Sub-Junior National Boxing Championships: Haryana boxers confirm 18 medals

Extending their sensational show, 18 Haryana boxers stormed into the semi-finals and confirmed themselves at least bronze medals at the 2022 Sub-Junior Girls and Boys National Boxing Championships here at the Inspire Institute of Sports in Bellary.

Out of 14 weight categories, Haryana girls managed to seal the semi-final berth in 10 categories and eight in the boys' section.

Sonika and Anshu led the domination for Haryana when they thrashed Delhi's Mahek Verma and Madhya Pradesh's Himani by identical 5-0 margins in the girls' 38kg and 40kg quarter-finals respectively. Arju (42kg), Joni (44kg) and Payal (46kg) also notched up victories by unanimous decisions while Deepti (48kg), Bhoomika (50kg), Hanshikha (60kg) and Lakshu (63kg) recorded powerful RSC wins.

Sakshi had to work hard against Delhi's Khyati Panwar during the girls 36kg quarter-final before winning it by a narrow 3-2 margin.

While in the boys' category, Mahesh set the tone for Haryana with a commanding 5-0 win against West Bengal's SK Aryan in the 46kg quarter-final.

Later, Vinit Kumar (40kg), Piyush (49kg), Yogesh Danda (52kg), Lokesh (64kg), Jitesh Sangwan (67kg), Yash Kumar (70kg) and Paryas (+70kg), also clinched comfortable wins to make progress into the semi-finals.

The reigning national champions in elite men's category, Services Sports Control Board (SSCB) continued their dominance in the sub-junior category too as 10 of their boxers exhibited an impressive display of boxing and entered the Last-4 stage.

Manashu started the day on an aggressive note for SSCB as he claimed a RSC win against Rajasthan's Chandan Saini in the 35kg quarter-finals. Harsh (37kg), Aakash Badhwar (40kg), Priyanshu (43kg), Mausam Suhag (46kg), Devang (55kg), Jashandeep (58kg), Nakul Sharma (61kg), Prashant (64kg) and Hardik Panwar (+70kg) are the other SSCB boxers progressed into the medal rounds.

Meanwhile, seven boxers from Maharashtra also advanced to the semi-finals and assured themselves medals in the girls' section. Arya Garde (36kg) and Drupata Saut (38kg) clinched RSC wins over their respective quarter-finals opponents Punjab's Manpreet Kaur and Kerala's Monika NB.

Samiksha Solanki and Bhakti Cungade further maintained Maharashtra's dominance by securing comprehensive 5-0 wins against Manipur's Thoibisana Chanu and Tamil Nadu's SM Charmi in the 40kg and 63kg respectively.

On the other hand, Akshada Jadav (34kg), Suhani Borade (46kg) and Naya Naveli (52kg) got the better of their respective opponents with split 4-1 victories.

The on-going championship has been witnessing participation of 621 boxers, including 348 in the boys' section, from 31 teams across the country. Each bout consists of three rounds of two minutes each with a minute's break between each round.

( With inputs from ANI )