Patiala: The 2012 London Olympics was a giant leap for women’s amateur boxing with the sport receiving tremendous appreciation from all quarters at the games. Five times World Champion MC Mary Kom’s bronze medal winning performance at the Excel Arena along with the sports’ grand Olympic success is now bound to inspire the young generation of Indian glove women in the junior ranks of the game. The exhilaration has already, quite clearly, transcended onto the canvas of the 8th Junior Women’s National Boxing Championships presented by Monnet Ispat and Energy Limited, undergoing in Patiala, Punjab.
The championship that began on Monday (24 Sep 2012) is witnessing young and aspiring women boxers of India fight for the coveted national crown with a renewed vigour. The eight edition of the tournament, being held from 24th – 28th September 2012, has seen participation from 121 boxers from 23 State/Board teams. The event, being organised by the Punjab State Boxing Association under the aegis of Indian Amateur Boxing Federation, is eligible for junior boxers born in the year 1994 and 1995. The competition format will be of 4 rounds of 2 minutes each with a minute of rest in between rounds. Aimed at strengthening the popularity and the level of competition in the sport, Indian boxing’s long standing friend and benefactor the Monnet Group makes for a fine example of corporate support for the event.
Day three of the five day affair offered a series of enthralling bouts as boxers of national and international acclaim took on each other in the hopes of making it to the penultimate round of the championship. India’s reigning Junior World Boxing Champion Lalenkawali of Mizoram continued her sublime form as she hammered Kalawati of Rajasthan into submission in less than 2 minutes of play. Lalenkawali won the gold medal at the recently concluded ‘Golden Glove of Vojvodina’ an international youth women’s boxing tournament in Serbia. She was leading 7 nil in the first round when the referee decided to stop the contest and award her the win. The 17 year old will now take on Rajesh Narwal of Karnataka who beat Andhra boxer J Deepthi in a hard fought quarter-final bout. The other half of the draw in the light fly weight division saw two time former Junior National Champion Pooja Tokas storm past Jyoti Thakur of Bihar (24-10) to advance into the round of four. 2011 Youth World Championship bronze medallist Poonam from Haryana was also in top form as she defeated Sanjaobi Chanu of Manipur in the light welter weight round of eight. After just two rounds of action the referee had to intervene and stop the bout, declaring the Haryana girl as the winner. In the next round she will go up against Sumol Doley of Assam for a place in the finals.
In the fly weight class, Neelam Saini of Haryana drubbed H Dayarani Devi of Manipur in one-sided contest. Saini a bronze medallist at ‘Golden Glove of Vojvodina’ in Serbia led from the start to finish not allowing the Manipur boxer many chances to score. She won 22-8 on points. In the semi-final round Saini will lock horns with G Sujatha of Andhra Pradesh. Sujatha the 2010 Junior National Champion had to dig deep against Sruthimol Sasi of Kerala to book her semi-final berth. She came back from a one point deficit (8-7) after the opening round to take the lead and finally win the bout 20-17 on points.
Another bronze medal winner from Serbia, Rupinder Kaur of Punjab put in a sterling performance against Lakhyamoni Gogoi of Assam in the quarter-finals of the light weight category. The 18 year old former Junior National Champion dominated proceeding from the get go. The Assamese boxer was completely at bay against the power punching from Rupinder, who went on to win the bout with a margin of 7 points (16-9) in the end. In the semi’s she will face off against Shaily Singh of Uttar Pradesh, who came back from behind to beat Bhawna from Haryana.
By Indian Sports News Network