Bellary (Karnataka): Delhi boxer Lovejeet and Punjab’s Mushkaan clinched dominating victories to enter the finals at the 2022 Sub-Junior Girls and Boys National Boxing Championships at the Inspire Institute of Sports in Bellary, Karnataka.
While Lovejeet outclassed Bihar’s Chandra Bhushan Ray 5-0 in the boys 58kg semi-finals, Mushkaan put up an equally powerful performance to secure a commanding win against Mihira Siripurapu of Andhra Pradesh by a similar margin in the girls 54kg Last-4 encounter.
Apart from Lovejeet, another Delhi boy, Shyam also entered the final after defeating Telangana’s Sai Bhargava Reddy by a split 4-1 verdict in the 49 kg category. While from the girls’ section, Mega (50kg) and Manshi Nagar (52) progressed into the final for Delhi.
On the other hand, five more Punjab boxers emerged victorious and joined Mushkaan in the finals. While Savreet Kaur (52kg) and Yogima Kalyal (57kg) claimed unanimous wins against Arunachal Pradesh’s Krapsi Yun and Gujarat’s Kaviya Joshi respectively, Ragini Mattu (34kg) and Aashima Singh (42kg) worked hard before pulling off 3-2 and 4-1 victories against their respective opponents Tamil Nadu’s M Sai Abi and Uttarakhand’s Anam.
Shriyansh was the lone Punjab boxer to advance into the boys finals. He thrashed Uttar Pradesh’s Vishu Rajtun by RSC in the 70kg semi-final.
In an exciting day that saw boxers from strong teams like Haryana and Services Sports Control Board continued to dominate with their 16 and nine boxers entering the finals respectively across the categories, the highlight of the day was Tamil Nadu’s Gunasri—the only boxer from the state to reach the final.
She clinched a thrilling 3-2 win over Maharashtra’s Suhani Borade in a nail-biting girls 46kg semi-finals.
From Maharashtra, Arya Garde (36kg), Samiksha Solanki (40kg) and Akshada Jadav (34kg) made their way into the girls finals with identical 4-1 wins over their respective opponents Haryana’s Sakshi and Anshu, and Chandigarh’s Tanvi.
However, in the boys’ section, only Aaryan Shirke made it to the final for Maharashtra after beating Himachal Pradesh’s Paviter Harjot Singh 3-2 in the 35kg Last-4 tie.
Meanwhile for Uttar Pradesh, Ravi Gond (55kg) Md Faiz (61kg) and Vishal Yadav (67kg) marched into the boys finals while Sadhna got the better of Tamil Nadu’s K Kaviya 3-2 to enter the girls 40kg final.
Among the other boxers who emerged victorious and made their way into the finals were Chandigarh’s Anshuman Sharma (52kg), Jharkhand’s Anish Kumar Sinha (37kg), Steel Plant Sports Board’s Y Umesh (43kg) and Chhattisgarh’s Girvaan Singh (46kg) in the boys section while, Goa’s Sagun Shinde (36kg) and Chandrika Pujari (44kg), Uttarakhand’s Komal Nagarkoti (38kg), Neha Waldiya (48kg) and Mahi Bisht (54kg), Sikkim’s Aswaninkumari Sapkota (57kg), Manipur’s Joyshree Devi (60kg) and Arunachal Pradesh’s Nabam Ania (63kg) from the girls category.
The on-going championship has been witnessing participation of 621 boxers, including 348 in the boys’ section, from 31 teams across the country. Each bout consists of three rounds of two minutes each with a minute’s break between each round.
