Sub-Junior National Boxing C'ships: 5 boxers from Haryana, UP enter QFs

Boxers from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh displayed an impressive show at the 2022 Sub-Junior Girls and Boys National Boxing Championships as five boys progressed into the quarter-finals at the Inspire Institute of Sports in Bellary, Karnataka.

Vinit Kumar began the day brilliantly for Haryana when he outclassed Rajasthan's Chandra Shekhar by unanimous decision in the 40kg pre-quarterfinal. Hunny (43kg), Mahesh (46kg) and Lokesh (64kg) further extended Haryana's dominance with victories by similar margins. While Hunny and Mahesh thrashed Telangana's Sana Ulla and Nikhil Goud respectively, Lokesh defeated Uttar Pradesh's Pritam Gupta.

Yogesh Danda was the fifth Haryana boxer to make his way into the Last-8 stage after beating Pondicherry's Prithvi by RSC verdict in the 52kg category.

Producing equally dominant performances, four Uttar Pradesh pugilists--MD Faiz (61kg), Lakshya Singh Parihar (40kg), Vishal Yadav (67kg) and Vishu Rajtun (70kg) clinched sensational RSC wins in their respective pre-quarterfinals while Ravi Gond had to work hard during his 55kg match against Assam's Shahiman Newar but managed to win by a split 4-1 decision.

While Faiz and Lakshya defeated Andhra Pradesh's Teja Krishna Yadav and Uttarakhand's Karan Adhikari respectively, Vishal and Vishnu outpunched Maharashtra's Shivam Ijagaj and Orissa's Akash Kumar Panigrahi.

Delhi's Shivam and Lovjeet, and Chandigarh's Loven and Nittin were among the other pugilists who entered the quarter-finals with strong performances.

Shyam (49kg) and Lovjeet (58kg) registered identical 5-0 wins against their respective opponents from Maharashtra, Atharva Naik and Atharva Bhatt.

On the other hand, Nittin made light work of Telangana's Pranav Shiva to win by 5-0 in the 37kg category while, in the 70kg Last-16 bout, Loven notched up a commanding RSC win against Madhya Pradesh's Suryabhan Singh.

The ongoing championship has been witnessing the 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 )