The local boxing fans had something to cheer about as five Andhra Pradesh boxers punched their way to resounding victories on the second day of the Sahara 59th senior national boxing championships here on Wednesday.
In the light welter weight (64 kgs) category Mandepally Ganesh of Andhra Pradesh egged on by a good sized crowd, gave one of the best performances of his career to down Souman Karmakar of Karnataka 30-11.
Using his accurate left to score points freely, the Andhra boxer piled up a 14-4 lead in the first round. But the Karnataka boxer fought back in the second round in which Ganesh could get only six more points to Karmakar’s five. In the last round however, Ganesh again opened up with a flurry of punches which sent his rival reeling.
In another bout K. Surender of AP gave a splendid display to finish off Vivek Sidar of Goa in the welterweight (69 kgs) category, the referee stopping the contest in the third round after the Goa boxer had received mandatory standing counts on four occasions.
The 23-year-old Surender led 8-3 in the first round and increased his lead to 15-7 at the end of the second round. In the third round he unleashed such a flurry of punches that the Goa boxer was unable to counter them and the referee finally stopped the contest.
Other AP boxers who won were K. Sagar in the light flyweight category who chalked up an easy win over Sangkar Singh of Meghalaya the referee stopping the contest in the second round, I.M. Ashok who defeated Dinesh of Steel Pants by 20-7 in lightweight and V. Balakrishna who defeated Bikash Chettry of Assam by 19-6 in flyweight (52 kgs) category.
The top boxers in action this day — Nanao Singh and Amandeep Singh —had easy wins. Nanao Singh of Services was a gold medallist in the Youth World championship (2008) and Youth Commonwealth Games (2008) while Amandeep Singh of Railways was a Commonwealth Games (2010) bronze medallist. It is widely expected that they will clash in the finals of the light flyweight (46-49 kgs) category.
The results (first round):
Light flyweight (46-49 kgs): Pankaj Saini (Pun) bt Ram Bhavani (Guj) RSC third round: Tarsem Kumar (Bih) bt Bahadur Singh Rana (Utk) 29-21; Raju (Aru) bt Madan Rai (Sik) 23-15; K. Sagar (AP) bt Sankar Singh (Meg) RSC second round; Bhojram (UP) bt K.C. Rao (Tri) 14-7; Vinod Kumar (SPSB) bt Madan Kumar (Pon) RSC first round; Nanao Singh (SSCB) bt V. Zosangpuia (Miz) RSC third round; Sunit (Goa) bt Pradeep (J & K) 16-12; Amandeep Singh (RSPB) bt M. Mohammed (TN) RSC first round.
Flyweight (52 kgs): Santosh Fakirappa (Goa) bt Srikant Yadav (UP) 10-4; Rahul Puniya (Har) bt Lal Lawmkima (Miz) 17-12; Sandeep (Aru) bt Dhawal Baria (Guj) RSC second round; Lamkupar Thangkhiew (Meg) bt Surujt Mistry (And) RSC second round; Madan Lal (SSCB) bt Chain Singh (Raj) 38-15; J. Baskar (SPSB) bt Umendra (Cht) RSC third round; Sunil Kumariya (Mah) bt Ezhilarasan (TN) knock out second round; V. Balakrishan (AP) bt Bikash Chettry (Asm) 19-6.
Lightweight (60 kgs): Rahul (Utk) bt Suk Raj (Sik) 19-9; Anil Kumar (Bih) bt Deepak (Raj) 21-12; Mahesh Singh (UP) bt Ashish Singh (Chd) 8-5; Monikanta Ashok (AP) bt Dinesh (SPSB) 20-7; Surinder Singh (SSCB) bt Basant Thapa (MP) 29-24; Mandeep Singh (Pun) bt Faiyaz (Guj) RSC second round; Neeraj Goyat (Tri) bt Gopal (Mah) 18-8; Govind (Asm) bt Madhan (TN) RSC.
Light welterweight (64 kgs): Umesh Ankarjal (Jhr) bt Prem Gurung (Sik) RSC second round; Ankit (HP) bt M. Sharma (Aru) 9-8; Mandepally Ganesh (AP) bt Souman Karmakar (Kar) 30-11
Welterweight (69kgs): K. Surender (AP) bt Vivek Sidar (Goa) RSC third round.
