BADDI, Oct 4: The 4th Elite Men’s Boxing National Championship got underway here in Himachal Pradesh on Friday.
More than 300 boxers from 39 teams, including six pugilists from Arunachal, are participating in the championship, informed the Boxing Federation of India (BFI).
A total of 36 bouts were played on the first day.
Maharashtra’s Rohit Chavan defeated Bengal’s Mazhar Hussain 3-2 in an exciting 60 kg bout. Both the boxers fought neck and neck throughout the three rounds, but Rohit prevailed in the end with a 3-2 verdict.
In another bout, Services’ Vinod Tanwar (49 kg) landed a string of power-packed punches on Tripura’s Sayan Lodhi, which forced the referee to stop the contest in the first round itself.
In the 52 kg category, Delhi’s Siddharth Solanki displayed superb control and movement to defeat Chandigarh’s Mewa Singh 5-0 in the preliminaries.
The championship will witness some of India’s top boxers, such as World Championships medallist Shiva Thapa (63 kg), Asian Championships silver medallist and local boy, Ashish Kumar (75 kg), World Youth Champion Sachin Siwach (57 kg), Makran Cup bronze medallist Rohit Tokas (75 kg), Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Mohammad Hussamuddin (57 kg) and Indian Open gold medallist Naman Tanwar (91 kg).
The boxers will compete in all the 10 weight categories – 49 kg, 52 kg, 57 kg, 60 kg, 63 kg, 69 kg, 75 kg, 81 kg, 91 kg and +91 kg.
Teams from Ladakh and Andaman & Nicobar will participate for the first time, thereby validating the BFI’S efforts to promote boxing throughout the country.
The preliminary matches will be played on the first four days, followed by the knockout stage starting on 8 October. The final matches will be played on 10 October.
