Pune: Railways gained the upper hand on day four of the boxing Nationals at the Army Sports Institute. World championships bronze medallist Gaurav Bidhuri (56kg) of Railways and Manish Kaushik (60kg) of Services once again overpowered their opponents.
Today was the first time the heavyweights stepped into the ring at the Army Sports Institute and Naman Tanwar(91kg), Sanjeet (91kg) registered wins via RSC with the bouts barely lasting more than one rounds. Arjuna awardee Satish Kumar (+91kg) also made short work of his bout, which was against Madhya Pradesh’s Monish Qureshi.
Bantamweight boxer Raju Naik of Odisha continued his winning run as did Dinesh (69kg) of Railways. There was controversy in the morning session following Punjab’s Rajpinder Singh defeating Haryana’s Akshay via split decision in a 56kg bout. Akshay looked in fine touch but saw the referees rule their verdict against him. Akshay’s roughhousing tactics may have worked against him.
Three-time national champion Madan Lal got things underway with a thumping win via unanimous decision against Rajasthan’s Roshan Sain. The bout between Services’ Dalvir Tomar and Railways’ Rohit Tokas was a tight affair, one in which the latter prevailed. It was Dalvir who gained the upper hand in the first round.
Rohit attacked with a fine combination of hooks and jabs and earned a knockout in the second round, which stunned the crowd, who had turned up in numbers to support Services. In the light-heavy category, Gagan Narwal of Services and Manish Panwar of Railways served up a see-saw bout. Both pugilists had their moments. Following a long wait, Manish was adjudged the winner by split-decision.
Kaushik picked up from where he left yesterday, aggressively using his feet, and unleashing a flurry of punches in short bursts. “Felt very good out there. I feel fit and am trying to implement what my coaches told me to do,” Kaushik told Scroll.in. “In my earlier bout, I didn’t know much about my opponent, but here I was relying on the information of my coaching team.”
Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Naman Tanwar, with his unorthodox style cornered Karnataka’s Nagesh. The 20-year-old, who is playing in his first Nationals is expected to run into Sanjeet, which is expected to be one of the bouts to watch out for in the event. Sanjeet, meanwhile, registered a dominant win after referee stopped the bout in the first round.