Men’s Boxing Nationals | M Hussamuddin, Siwach, Ashish Kumar progress to pre-quarterfinals
India’s ace boxers had a good outing in the fourth Elite National Men’s Championships Baddi, Himachal Pradesh, on Sunday, where the likes of Mohammad Hussamuddin (57kg), Sachin Siwach (57kg), and Ashish Kumar (75Kg) saw wins in their respective weight categories. The finals will be on October 10.
CWG bronze medalist Hussamuddin, representing Services, was up against Maharashtra’s Sashikant Yadav, and the Services man was always the favourite to win it. Following a cautious start in the first round, Hussamuddin was seen upgrading his pace, and his experience furthermore gave him the much-needed edge as he won 5-0.
If Hussamuddin’s win was comprehensive3, World Youth Boxing 2016 Champion Siwach’s win was ruthless. He was up against Pralhad Panda of Goa and the Railways boxer won the match in just three rounds via RSC (Referee Stopped the Contest). Siwach had even won the bronze medal in 52 kg last year.
Ashish Kumar was up against Telengana’s Gnaneshwar Kurna in the middleweight category and the 2019 Asian Championships silver medallist was seen raining punches from the very beginning. It was so one-sided that the bout had to be abandoned in the second round.
Ayaan Parihar of Himachal Pradesh took on Delhi’s Abhilash in a thrilling welterweight bout where both the boxers were equally matched and went at each other relentlessly. However, Ayan was eventually favoured by the judges as he won the contest in a 3-2 split verdict.
In other matches, while Railways Dinesh Dagar (69kg) out-punched Vinod Bhardwaj of Jammu & Kashmir, Maharashtra’s Rohit Chavan (60 kg) continued his winning streak against Telangana’s Niraj Kumar, Chandigarh’s Shubham bested Orissa’s Dipak Kumar 5-0 in the lightweight category, whereas Pankaj Chauhan (75kg) from Chandigarh defeated Manikant Shaw 5-0 to reach the pre-quarterfinals.
