It was time for semi-final action of the boxing event at the 34th National Games in the JRD Tata Sports Complex, Jamshedpur and the day got off to a blistering start.
Youth Commonwealth Games champion Nanao Singh, continued his winning streak in the light fly weight category with a win over Sandeep Singh of Tripura on points 12:0. The 2009 National Champion though, will have his hands full in the final where he meets Amandeep Singh of Punjab. Amandeep, a bronze medalist at the Commonwealth games, trounced Sanjay Kolte of the services on points 5:1.
In the bantam weight section Shiva Thapa of Assam, playing his first senior level tournament, was up against Bajrang of Haryana. A silver medalist at the Youth World Championship last year, Thapa carried on with his good form and ousted Bajrang on points 5:0. He now faces MB Lakra of Jharkhand in the finals.
Bronze medalist at the 2010 commonwealth games, Dilbag Singh of Haryana, in the 69 Kg category, started slow against Mandeep Jangra of Delhi but gained momentum in the third round. Making best use of his experience the nine times national champion succeeded in beating Mandeep on points 2:0. The veteran is poised to meet Amit Karki of Jharkhand in the battle for gold.
In the heavy weight category, Manpreet Singh of SSCB made his way to the finals beating Krishan Kumar of Haryana 11:1. A silver medalist at the 2010 Asian Games, Manpreet will be seen locking horns with Praveen Kumar of Jharkhand for the title.
In the women’s event, Vinita Mahar of Uttarakhand put up little resistance against Sarita Devi of Manipur in fly weight division. Sarita a former world champion and four times Asian Championship gold medalist was leading 2:0 in the second round before the referee intervened to stop the fight. She will now fight Pinky Jangra of Haryana. Pinky made her place in the final drubbing A Punyavathi of Andhra 6:0 on points. If odds are to be believed Sarita has the upper hand over the Haryana girl, but Pinky, who defeating five-time world champion M C Mary Kom in the quarterfinal of Senior National Championship at the same venue two years ago, will be no push over.
The women’s light weight category witnessed an interesting fight back form Lalram Ngeni of Mizoram who was up against Monica Saun of Punjab. A bronze medalist in the 64 Kg category at the last year’s National Championships, Lalram fought back hard in the fourth round after going down in the first three. In the end though, it was the Punjab boxer who held on to registered an 8:4 victory.
Vanlal Duati of Tripura, a national champion in the light fly weight category, made a place in the final defeating Monita Devi of Arunachal Pradesh. She now encounters 19 year old Krishna Thapa representing Madhya Pradesh.
Aruna Mishra, a two times national champion and a former world champion, also booked a birth in the finals in the light welter weight category. The Jharkhand pugilist completely outclassed her opponent Pratibha Jhakhar of Chandigarh on points 23:3.
For complete results of Day 5 and the final line up kindly refer to the official website of the Indian Boxing Federation, www.indiaboxing.in.
Warm Regards
Brig PK Muralidharan RajaSecretary GeneralIndian Boxing Federation
