The Hindu : Sport : Som Bahadur Pun still packs a punch

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Tuesday, Aug 28, 2007
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Sport

Som Bahadur Pun still packs a punch

Kirti Patil

NEW DELHI: Som Bahadur Pun led the Services’ onslaught while Railways suffered its first early round loss, as the ‘best boxer’ of the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games stormed into the quarterfinals in the 64kg category, in the 54th National boxing championship here on Monday.

Pun showed glimpses of speed and agility he was known for during his prime as he plundered his opponent from Meghalaya, Tej Bahadur, before forcing the referee to stop the contest in the third round.

Combining left and right punches with equal ease, Pun made a comeback to the competitive boxing after suffering from head injury for more than one year. Pun took 9-0 lead in the first round and then improved it to 17-1 before outscoring his opponent early in the third round.

“I am mentally ready for the challenge and confident of winning my light-welterweight title once again,” said Pun, who so far has an unbeaten record in the National championship.

Though a berth in the Chicago World championship team would be a long shot even if he wins the gold medal here, Pun is hopeful that his vast experience will help him earn the spot. “I am hoping to impress the selectors and get the nod,” Pun said.

Services in command

All other services pugilists were through to the next round, but host Railways received a shock when light-heavyweight Sukhwinder Singh was knocked out in the first round by an unheralded Inder Pal of Madhya Pradesh. Inder Pal landed a massive blow on the head that left Sukhvinder in a daze before referee stopped the contest in the first round.

In the bantamweight class, Binjender was stretched to the distance by Maharashtra’s Narender before the Railways’ pugilist pulled off 19-12 win. In fact, in the fourth round when Bijender led 14-4, Narender caught him by surprise with a flurry on punches and sent him crashing on the floor. Bijender quickly recovered and just about moved ahead thanks to the luxury of his good lead.

The results (pre-quarterfinals):

48kg: Venkat Raman (Kar) bt Vikrant (Del) 27-16, Amit (Har) bt Naresh (HP) 20-4, Bishwajeet (Assam Rifles) bt Krishna (Meg) 39-23, Shankar (Asm) bt Mohammed Hanif (Goa) 19-12, Salman (Mah) bt Yelam (Man) 34-16, Balbir (Rlys) bt Paramje et (Chd) RSC (OS) III, Sanjay (Ser) bt Dilip (Jhar) 17-6.

51kg: Mukesh (Chd) bt Pravesh (Skm) 20-14, Raj Kumar (Kar) w.o Rahul (Del), Gulam (Steel Plants) bt Senthil (TN) KO I, Mohammed Aisamuddin (Jhar) bt Abhishek (UP) 47-41, Sunil Kumar (Har) bt Hitesh (Cht) 5-0 (manual), H. K. Beliwal (Se r) bt Santosh (Goa) RSC (OS) I, Jitender Kumar (Rlys) bt Mohan (Meg) RSC (OS) III, Hrokhu (Miz) bt S. B. Thapa (Assam Rifles) 32-22.

54kg: Saubam (Pon) bt Ganesh (Asm) 19-11, S. Suresh Singh (Police) bt Chitamaber (Goa) 29-7, Bijender (Rlys) bt Narender (Mah) 19-12, C. Lalrosanaga (Miz) bt A. Pratap (Kar) 20-12, Mahesh (Har) bt Kulwinder (Pun) 27-23, Manoj (Chd) bt S. Gopi (TN) 17-4, Torak (Meg) bt Prem (Aru) 38-14, S. K. Thapa (Assam Rifles) bt S. Dhanwal (MP) RSC (OS) II.

57kg: Chote Lala (Jhar) bt Mahmood (Pun) 23-7, Govind (Asm) bt Ashish (HP) 32-13, Manoj (Aru) bt Ajit (Del) RSC (OS) III, M. Suresh (Rlys) bt L. Romesh (Man) 19-6, A. L. Lakra (Ser) bt R. Ranjith (TN) KO I, Lalit (Har) bt Vinod (Steel Plants) 24-2, Pradeep (Mah) bt Umed (Raj) RSC (OS) II, Arjun (Kar) bt Balu Ganesh (Ker) 23-13.

60kg: Man Bahadur (Aru) bt K. Karthik (Ker) RSC (OS) III, Jai Bhagwan (Rlys) bt Shahensha (MP) RSC (OS) III, Narender (Jhar) bt Vikas (Raj) RSC (OS) III, Rakesh (Mah) bt Senjam (Man) RSC (I) II, K.K.T. Singh (Ser) bt Sanjay (Har) 17-9, Sunil (BSF) bt Padam (Skm) 20-14.

64kg: Venkatesh (Kar) bt Amit (BSF) 37-16, Som Bahadur Pun (Ser) bt Tej Bahadur (Meg) RSC (OS) III, Vikas (Rlys) w.o Mayangban (Man).

First round: 91kg: B. R. Tharapathy (Ker) bt Kailash (Meg) RSC (I) II, Harmap (Man) bt Fateh Singh (Jhar) 35-20, Sanjeev (Chd) bt Jospinder (Police) 17-7, Rohit (Nag) bt Vishwa (UP) RSC (OC) I, Vinod (Miz) bt Ajay (C ISF) Retd. III, Manjeet (MP) bt Abrar (Kar) RSC (OC) I, Amanjeet (Pun) bt Hardeep (Mah) 22-3. Plus 91kg: Harjinder (Man) bt Sanjeev (HP) RSC (OS) III, Balkar (Police) bt Shiva (BSF) KO II, Paramjeet (Rlys) bt Vinay (UP) Retd. I, V. Joh nson (Ser) bt Karanveer (Asm) KO (H) I, Harish (Chd) bt Haiom (Nag) RSC (I) I, Ravindra (J and K) bt Arnav (Tri) RSC (OC) I, Rahul (MP) bt Rahul (Cht) RSC (OC) I, Surjeet (Assam Rifles) bt Karthib (Kar) RSC (OC) I, Kaman (Utr) bt Narendra (AP) RSC (H) II.

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