National Boxing Championships: Sumit, Neeraj make winning starts

The men’s National Boxing Championships got off to a good start in Bellary, Karnataka, on Wednesday. Sumit Sangwan and Neeraj Swami, among other Indian boxers, registered victories on opening day at the Inspire Institute of Sports.

Haryana boxing star Sumit, who had participated in the 2012 London Olympics, notched up a comfortable win over Andhra Pradesh’s boxer Harish Prasadula by a unanimous margin in the 86kg opening round match.

Neeraj also put up an impressive show and made a winning start to his campaign in the prestigious tournament, which is making a comeback after a gap of one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Neeraj completed a dominating 5-0 victory against Haryana’s Sagar in the 48kg category.

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Punjab’s Rajpinder Singh also outpunched his opponent Rahul Niltu from Himachal Pradesh to secure a 5-0 win in 54 kg opening round bout.

Boxing stars make impressive starts

Sumit Sangwan in action at the Asian Boxing Championships

Among the other Indian boxing stars who made impressive starts on the first day were Maharashtra’s Nikhil Dubey and Chhattisgarh’s Dinesh Kumar. Playing in the 75kg category, both the boxers claimed contrasting victories.

While Nikhil was declared the winner by Referee Stopping the Contest (RSC) verdict in the first round against Gujarat’s Sejad Lilgar, Dinesh had to work hard against Bengal’s Abhishek Shaw during his close 3-2 win.

The gold medal-winning boxing stars will book a direct berth for the 2021 AIBA Elite Men’s World Boxing Championships, scheduled to be held in Belgrade, Serbia from October 24 to November 6.

The gold and silver medal-winning boxers in each category from the ongoing event will earn themselves a direct entry into the national boxing coaching camp.

The National Boxing Championships will be followed by selection trials, which will be played until September 24 to finalize the remaining two names to take part in the national camp from each category.