By a correspondent
New Delhi, June 9,
The 3rd edition of the Youth Men’s National Boxing championship started off in Rudrapur, Uttarakhand with an overwhelming participation of over 400 boxers. The national level tournament, which plays a clinical role in identifying and propelling young talents will see the representation of 32 teams.
In the men’s category, youth world bronze medalist in 2018, Bhavesh of (SSCB) ensured a total whitewash to show Bhumit Patel the exit. Bhumit found himself in the receiving end of a flurry of punches as the youth worlds medalist cruised to a comfortable victory to secure his pre-quarters berth in the 52kg
Following his footsteps was Aman in the +91 kg category. Aman, who is a Youth Asian Bronze medalist last year continued the fine run in the tournament to set up his pre-quarters clash against Delhi’s Sunny Dabas.
The highlight in the women’s category was the match between Arpita Kushwaha of Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh’s Deepika in 60kg. The Himachal pugilist went all out with her combination punches to send her opponent almost to the ropes as the referee had to stop the contest with a few seconds still on the clock in Round 2.
In the 64kg women’s bout, Saksham Singh got the better of Goa’s Chotukumar Singh in an intense battle. Saksham, who hails from Uttar Pradesh followed suit to seal the bout with a dominating performance to eke out her Goan rival with a unanimous 5:0 verdict.
The second day witnessed a dozen bouts resulting in RSC verdicts and dominance of performance by the pugilists.
A total of 180 women boxers and 248 men boxers will battle it out in the six-day long tournament with the finals being played on June 13.