Pune: Former champion PL Prasad (52kg) and Sanjeet (91kg) emerged as big winners on semi-finals day of the boxing Nationals on Thursday, defeating more fancied rivals Sachin Siwach and Naman Tanwar respectively.
The wins highlighted Services’ dominance during the day, winning each of their seventh bouts, buoyed by local support at the Army Sports Institute. A debilitating shoulder injury not so long ago had put Prasad out of the sport for more than a year. With India’s High Performance coach Santiago Nieva and Co watching, the 23-year-old from Visakhapatnam has hardly put a foot wrong en route to the finals.
Sanjeet, on the other hand, was ranked third in India a year ago. His bout with Naman lived up to its billing as a close encounter. There was little to choose from between the two heavyweight pugilists for much of the bout. Naman, speaking to Scroll.in before the bout spoke about how his contest with Sanjeet would be “close and tough”, just like the last few times.
Naman’s open-guard stance has managed to surprise opponents in the recent past but Sanjeet was up for it this time. A water-tight guard combined with clever strategy helped him get over the Railways boxer. “I was told by my coaches to keep the punches straight and close,” Sanjeet said. “Our bouts have always been close and here, I was confident of doing well.”
The 21-year-old beat Naman in a split decision verdict 3:2.
It was smart planning from the Services camp that set up Prasad’s victory via unanimous decision. Sachin, also on a comeback trail after missing out on a spot in the Asian Games, was outmaneuvered by Prasad in all the rounds. Sachin’s strategy in all his bouts so far was wearing down opponents with his ring coverage, endurance, and unleashing a flurry of punches in short bursts. The former youth world champion has been strong in defence.
Prasad, a full-fledged attacker, stuck to his guns. Sachin’s height advantage also had little effect on the outcome. “We told Prasad to not aim for the head early as he [Sachin] is taller,” Services’ Cuban coach Luis Enrique said. “The idea was to get more body punches in, staying close, and ultimately going for the kill.”
Prasad, using his experience, got the win. Sachin was warned by the referee for holding as was well. Almost out of the reckoning not so long ago, Prasad is now in pole position to earn a spot in the national camp.
Favourites continue winning run
Gaurav Bidhuri (56kg), Rohit Tokas (64kg), and Dinesh (69kg), all of whom Represent Railways also continued their winning run in the tournament. While world championship bronze medallist Bidhuri is an overwhelming favourite in his weight class, Dinesh’s bout against highly-rated Haryana boxer Mandeep Jangra was expected to be a close affair, but Dinesh won 4:1.
There was little to choose between Dinesh and Mandeep in the first two rounds but the latter’s superior fitness held him in good stead in the final round. Dinesh, quite crucially, dominated the final minute of the bout, and eventually saw his hand raised by the referee.
Tokas entered the semis through a knock-out win, and his bout against Andhra’s M Srinivasa was halted in the first round following a surrender.
Services would snatch away the bragging rights through former champions Manish Kaushik, Madan Lal, and the hard-punching Duryodhan Singh Negi’s facile victories. Tamil Nadu’s M Moovendran gave a good account of himself, continuing from where he left in the quarter-finals, but Manish was a step ahead of him with the Services boxer winning through a unaniumous verdict.
In the welterweight bout Madhya Pradesh’s Manish Uikey was no match for Duryodhan, who impressed with his footwork and close-range fists of fury. Uikey was given two standing counts by the referee during the one-sided bout.
Semi-final results
49kg: Himanshu Sharma (Punjab) defeated Pankaj Saini (AIP) by unanimous decision
49kg: Deepak (Railways) defeated Govind Kumar Sahani (Nagaland) by unanimous deision
52kg: PL Prasad (Services) defeated Sachin Siwach (Railways) by unanimous decision
52kg: Ananta Chopade (Maharashtra) defeated Ashish Insha (Delhi) by split-decision 3:2
56kg: Madan lal (Services) defeated Ram Singh Pal (UP) on points 4:1
56kg: Gaurav Bidhuri (Railways) defeated R Madhan (Tamil Nadu) by unanimous decision
60kg: Manish Kaushik (Services) defeated M Moovendran (Tamil Nadu) by unanimous decision
60kg: Ankush Dahiya (Railways) defeated Harivansh Tawari (60kg) by unanimous decision
64kg: Rohit Tokas (Railways) defeated M Srinivasa (AP) bout conceded after first round
64kg: Abhishek Yadav (UP) defeated Jimil Thomas (Kerala) by unanimous decision
69kg: Dinesh Dagar (Railways) defeated Mandeep Jangra (Haryana) by points 4:1
69kg: Duryodhan Singh Negi (Services) defeated Manish Uikey (MP) by unanimous decision
75kg: Manjeet Singh (Services) defeated Ashish Kumar (Himachal) by unanimous decision
75kg: Prayag Chauhan (Railways) defeated Kavi (Haryana) by unanimous decision
81kg: Brijesh Yadav (Rajasthan) defeated Sanjay (Haryana) by knockout
81kg: Manish Panwar (Railways) defeated Geeta Nand (Himachal) by points 4:1
91kg: Praveen Kumar (Haryana) defeated Sawan Gill (Chandigarh) by unanimous decision
91kg: Sanjeet (Services) defeated Naman Tanwar (Railways) by split decision 3:2
91+kg: Satish Kumar (Services) defeated Gurupal Singh (Punjab) walkover
91+kg: Jasveer Singh (Railways) defeated Reynold Joseph (Maharashtra) by RSP
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