Haryana, Railway pugilists dominate at National Boxing Championships

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Vijayanagara, Jan 4 (PTI) As many as nine pugilists from Haryana stormed into the semifinals, ensuring themselves medals at the 3rd Elite Women's National Boxing Championships here Friday.

They were closely followed by the Railways as eight of their boxers made it to the medal round while All India Police (AIP) had seven of their players advancing. Chandigarh and Punjab had two pugilists each entering the semifinals in all the 10 categories with other state boxers just filling the vacant slots.

All top boxers, including World Championships participants and medallists Lovlina Borgohain, Pinki Rani Jangra, Simranjit Kaur, Manisha Moun, Seema Poonia won their bouts, mostly with RSC verdicts.

In the opening bout of the day on Ring 1, S Kalaivani of Tamil Nadu surprised AIP's K Bina Devi in 48 kg, receiving a 4:1 verdict in her favour to take on Haryana's Sanju, who beat Anchu Sabu of Kerala on points (5:0).

In fact, it was Sanju who paved the way for her statemates to follow suit, showing excellent temperament and maturity.

In between, Rajni Singh of Uttar Pradesh, in a close bout, won a split verdict (3:2) against Swasti Arya of Rajasthan. Pinki Rani pounded Chandigarh's Gargi 5:0 in 51kg and the other Haryana boxers that moved up included World Championship quarter-finalist Manisha Moun (54), Neeraj (60), Nisha (69) Nupur (75), Pooja Rani (81) and Anupama (+81).

Not to be outdone, the Railway boxers, too, had their share of success, entering the medal rounds convincingly. It began with Pooja Tokas in 48 kg and it was carried on by Meenakshi (51), Siksha (54), Sonia Lather (57), Pwilao Basumatry (64), Pooja (69), Neetu (75), Bhagbati Kachari (81) and Seema Poonia (+81).

World Championship bronze medallist Lovilina Bogohain won a close bout against Delhi's Anjali (3:2), who kept her better-known rival at bay with some great combination punches. The second round entirely belonged to the Delhi pugilist and she continued in the same manner in the third as well. However, what worked in favour of the Assamese boxer was her first-round blows, particularly the lefts and a few straights which she was able to land on Anjali.