Khelo India 2019, Boxing: Maharashtra’s Tiwari tames World Youth bronze medallist Ankit; Haryana sign off with 10 gold medals

Pune, Jan 19: Haryana asserted their superiority over the opposition yet again as they won more than half the gold medals that were on offer on the final day of boxing at the Khelo India Youth Games. With just one more day to go in the Games, Haryana bagged a total of 10 gold, eight silver, and two bronze medals in boxing at these Games.

Maharashtra pugilists also put up an impressive performance with four gold medals, one silver, and nine bronze medals. It was Army Sports Institute trainees Barun Singh, Bhavesh Kattimani and Nikhil Dubey who contributed majorly to the gold hunt in their respective categories.

Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh claimed one gold each.

Even though Haryana bagged a lion’s share of gold, it was the defeat of Haryana’s Ankit that was the big surprise of the day. Haryana was deprived of another gold as Shashi Chopra of Haryana was unable to fight due to injury and the gold went to Himachal’s Vinakshi.

In the 64kg class, the World Youth silver medalist and Asian youth gold medalist Manisha outboxed Punjab’s, Harpreet Kaur. Manisha was at her best and justified her reputation with a clinical win.

Another upset was registered in the girls’ category when Haryana’s national bronze medalist Sapna proved better than World Youth bronze medalist Astha Pahwa (UP) in a close 3-2 fight. Astha banking on her international exposure, displayed a better game in the first round, however as the game progressed Sapna changed her game plan to close range punching. This unsettled Astha and she lost valuable points. Despite trying her best in the third round, she failed to recover from the loss she suffered in the second.

The summit clash in boys’ 60kg class was one of the highlights of the day. Harivansh, who has youth national bronze medal, defeated World Youth bronze and Asian Youth bronze medalist Ankit of Haryana 4-1. Despite having a height disadvantage, Harivansh landed accurate blows and his effective uppercuts and jabs were too much to handle for Haryana player.

In the boys’ 75kg class, Maharashtra’s Nikhil Dubey stunned Nation Cup silver medallist Nitin Kumar (Haryana) with some clever tactics. The ASI pugilist played safe in the first round and forced Nitin to use his full force in a desperate attempt to score points.

The Haryana player fell for the trap and exhausted himself. He was clearly out of breath in the second and third rounds and taking advantage of the situation, Nikhil played attack-counterattack strategy against his higher ranked opponent.

“My coach Subhedar Rakesh Kalaskar had suggested the tactics. He had told me to play defensively in the first round, but at the same time, I should lure him to attack more. I decided to move fast from corner to corner in an attempt to tire him down, and it worked,” said Nikhil, who had beaten Asian bronze medallist Sachin of Haryana in the quarterfinals.

In an all-Maharashtra final in the Light Fly (49kg) class, Nations Cup gold medallist Barun Singh scripted a 5-0 win over Ajay Madhav Pendor. Initially, it was Ajay who was aggressive and launched a series of attacks. But, soon Barun recovered himself and dominated the second and third round.

“We could have done better. The performance is better than the last year and we are merely satisfied with the results,” said Maharashtra coach S Advait.

The girls’ Light fly (48kg) class brought no surprises as two times World Youth champion (2017, 2018) Nitu of Haryana outshined youth national silver medallist Anjali Sharma of Madhya Pradesh with 5-0 score.

Unfortunately, World Youth Championship gold medallist Shashi Chopra of Haryana was unable to fight in the final due to a shoulder injury, she suffered during her semi-final bout.

“I am yet to get details about the injury but the doctors have advised me to take prevention for at least two weeks. It’s very disheartening to let go the gold medal like this,” said Shashi.

Boys' U-21 (Finals)

Light Fly (49kg): Barun Singh (Mah) bt Ajay Pendor (Mah) 5-0; Bronze: Anshul Punia (Chd), V Swaroop (AP)

Fly (52kg): Bhavesh Kattimani (Mah) bt Anwar (Kar) 4-1; Bronze: Kongkham Naothoi Singh (MN), Kipa Parang (Aru)

Bantam (56kg): Akash Kumar (Har) bt Pawan Gurang (Utk) 5-0; Bronze: Rohit Chavan (Mah), Md Etash Khan (Mah)

Light (60kg): Harivansh Tiwari (Mah) bt Ankit (Har) 4-1; Bronze: Hitesh Kumar (D&D)

Light Welter (64kg): Akash (Har) bt Mohit (Har) 5-0; Bronze: Shashikant Yadav (Mah), Amit Kumar (D&D)

Welter (69kg): Naveen Boora (HAR) bt Abhilash (Del) 5-0; Bronze: Md Rahil (Mah), Pralhad Singh (PB)

Middle (75kg): Nikhil Dubey (Mah) bt Nitin Kumar (Har) 4-1 vs; Bronze: Ismeet Singh (UP), Leitanthem Meitei (MN)

Light Heavy (81kg): Mohit (Har) bt Sanjay (Har) 3-2; Bronze: Rahul Harpal (D&D), Satender Singh (Mah)

Heavy (91kg): Himmat Singh (Har) bt Shivam (Del) 5-0; Bronze: Shaquib Akram (Mah), Kapil Pokharya (Utk)

Super heavy (91+kg): Harshpreet Saharwat (UP) br Akhil Kumar Poonia (Raj) 3-2; Bronze: Mohit (Har), Aman (Mah).

Girls' U-21 (Finals)

Light fly (48kg): Nitu (Har) bt Anjali Sharma (MP) 5-0; Bronze: Guduru Ramya (AP), Gauri Jaisinghpur (Mah)

Fly (51kg): Anamika (Har) bt Tanvi Kaushal (Del) 5-0; Bronze: Divya Bache (Mah), Sonia Gaud (Utk)

Bantam (54kg): Divya Pawar (MP) bt Shivani (Har) 5-0; Bronze: Riya Tokas (Delhi); Rajbala (Chd),

Feather (57kg): Vinakshi (HP) bt Shashi Chopra (Har) w/o; Bronze: Jyoti Kanwar (Raj), Mandeep Kaur (PB)

Light (60kg): Siwi (Har) bt Jony (Har) 4-1; Bronze: Ankushita Boro (Asm), Kshetrimayum Chanu (MN)

Welter (64kg): Manisha (Har) bt Harpreet Kaur (PB) 5-0; Bronze: S Rojita Devi (MN), Erika Shekhar (HP)

Light Middle (69kg): Lalita (Raj) bt Amrit (Har) 5-0; Bronze: Neha Kashnyal (Utk), Vaishnavi Prabhu (Goa)

Middle (75kg): Sapna (Har) bt Astha Pahwa (UP) 3-2; Bronze: Niharika Gonella (Tel), Neha (Har)