Pune: Heavyweights Services and Railways continued to dominate the men’s senior boxing nationals and on Monday, stalwarts Gaurav Bidhuri (56kg) and Manish Kaushik (60kg) registered easy wins. Punjab’s Himanshu Sharma (49kg) was also in fine form, dispatching Arunachal Pradesh’s Tara Heli Tana.
Bidhuri, who is on a comeback trail, hardly broke a sweat after taking a slightly cautious approach in the first minute of his bout, which was against Madhya Pradesh’s Vivek Jha. The World Championships bronze medallist kicked into gear in the second round and the hapless Jha was given three standing counts.
When Bidhuri revealed his strategy in the ring, it sounded more of a training routine than an intense match. “I wanted to work every part of my body, every bit of the combinations,” Bidhuri told Scroll.
“I am an attacking boxer but I curbed it a little bit to invite the opponent in the game. I decided that I would strategise accordingly. The bout was easier than I thought it would be.”
Reigning champion Manish Kaushik also opened his account for the tournament with a routine win, tormenting Kongkang Hongrang from the time the bell went off. Fighting close, Manish unleashed a flurry of punches, barely letting his opponent breathe. With Shiva Thapa given time off at the nationals, Manish is an overwhelming favourite to defend his crown.
“To attack from the word go was the strategy of the coaches. I just listened to them and applied myself in the ring. I was just trying to trying to implement that,” said Manish.
Manish, like Bidhuri, missed out on a spot in the Asian Games.
Sachin Siwach and Services’ PL Prasad, who got off to winning starts on Sunday, once again were a class apart in the ring. Here, it was Sachin’s defensive technique that came to the fore, ducking and weaving using his nimble feet to good effect. A stinging hook on Chandigarh’s Ahhemad Mansoor virtually ended the contest.
Arunachal Pradesh’s Tara Heli Rana, quite stunningly earned a win in the first round on day one. Here, he more than met his match against Himanshu Sharma, who recorded a win via unanimous decision.
Prasad’s footwork and combinations were once again on point. The 23-year-old is widely tipped to run into Sachin for the crown.
Controversy broke out during the bout between Sandeep of Haryana and Punjab’s Vijay Kumar, who thought he had done enough. In a strange turn of events, Sandeep, who was bleeding from his left saw his hands raised, and this sparked off an animated debate between the coaches and the referees near the ring.
Buoyed by rousing in-house support, light-fly Services boxers Deepak and Pawan Singh registered wins towards the end of the day.
The marathon day three saw as many as 73 bouts following an early start.
Yet again, the usual suspects have barely put a foot wrong so far.
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