Chandigarh, UP boxers make strong start at National Championships

Led by the 2021 Asian Junior champion Rohit Chamoli, four Chandigarh boxers registered comprehensive victories on the opening day of the 5th Youth Men's and Women's National Boxing Championships in Chennai.

Rohit beat Chhattisgarh's Tushar Dhruw quite comfortably by a 5-0 margin in a lopsided men's 51kg opening round contest. Besides Rohit, Ashish Kumar, Neha and Parineeta Sheoran also produced dominating performances to complete easy wins.

While Ashish (75kg) and Neha (54kg) claimed Referee Stopping Contest (RSC) victories against Orissa's Jayprakash Sanapati and Jharkhand's Naina Kachhap respectively, Parineeta outpunched Madhya Pradesh's Luxmi by unanimous decision in the women's 48kg.

Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh pugilists also had impressive outings on Day 1.

The current junior national champion Devika Ghorpade led Maharashtra's domination with RSC win over Kerala's Anatte Thomas in the women's 52kg. Janhavi Churi (48kg) also moved into the second round with a convincing 5-0 over Manipur's Venika Yumnam.

Simran Verma (50kg) and Niraj Rajbhar (54kg) were the other two Maharashtra boxers to make progress after winning by RSC margins against Assam's Mary Moran and Kerala's Muhammed Fahil respectively in the women's and men's category.

Seven boxers from Uttar Pradesh, including three women, began their campaigns on winning note. Kusum (50kg) and Shraddha (63kg) notched up RSC wins against their respective opponents from Telangana, Ashiwin Kulkarni and Vennela Gandamalla.

Varsha Singh got the better of Maharashtra's Swapna Chavan 4-1 in the women's 54kg bout. Bhupendra Kumar (51kg), Rohit Yadav (57kg), Sumit Singh Dhakare (75kg) and Rockey Chaudhary (80kg) made winning starts for Uttar Pradesh in the men's section.

Sanjana (48kg), Dolly (52kg) and Siya (54kg) were the three Delhi boxers who progressed into the next round with contrasting wins. Siya and Sanjana secured easy 5-0 and RSC wins against Karnataka's Anupriya A and Syeda Salma Jahan of Telangana respectively.

On the other hand, Dolly had to work hard in a thrilling 3-2 win against Tamil Nadu's Madhumitha H.

( With inputs from ANI )