The Hindu : Impressive show by Lavi

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Oct 04, 2003

Sport

Sport - Boxing

Impressive show by Lavi

By D. Ravi Shankar

India-G's V. Lavi (left) lands a punch on Nawaf Mohamed Bennor of Qatar in the 69-kg category of the Goa International boxing championship on Friday. — Photo: Sampath Kumar

COLVA (Goa) Oct. 3. Vibeeshan Lavi of India came up with a gritty display to convert a losing bout into a winning one in the semi-final of the welter weight (69 kg) class in the Goa International Boxing tournament.

Pitted against Nawaf Mohammed Bennor of Qatar rated highly in his country and under preparation for the forthcoming Olympics, Lavi trailing in the first three rounds punched his way into the lead in the final round to win in a stirring manner.

The Qatar boxer picked up a 6-2 lead in the first round with some well-connected jabs and crosses. The second round was honours shared; as the judges were impressed with both boxers who picked up five points each.

Lavi's coach spurred him on in the third round as the Karnataka boxer made a number of hooks to Nawaf's head. He however was still a point in arrears at the end of the third round.Scenting victory, Lavi stepped up the tempo and repeatedly pushed Nawaf into a corner desperately trying to ward off Lavi's thudding punches.

Lavi with some strong blows overhauled Nawaf on points and turned the tables to win at 24-21.

Szello Imre of Philippines used his reach advantage to good effect. Keeping Indian Kanta Singh at bay and sharing points for the first two rounds, Imre found the Indian tiring and then began his power packed punches. Twice hitting Kanta powerfully on the head resulting in a mandatory count, Imre had the Indian boxer groggy and unable to keep upright. The doctors were called in and they stopped the bout as Kanta had suffered a head injury.

Probably the most keenly awaited bout was the middleweight fixture between Mohammed Suherman of Singapore and Parminder Singh of India. Suherman had a bye into the semi-final, and the Singapore based Special Forces soldier is actually an exponent of the martial art of Kick Boxing.

His coach Balasundar stated that Suherman had been sent to India purely for the exposure of an international tournament and this would be his first appearance in a boxing ring for a tournament.

He had been training for just two weeks prior to the start of the Goa International meet. Mohammed Suherman's inexperience showed as Parvinder had sealed the fate of the bout in 45 seconds. Two crashing hooks to the head had the Singaporean reeling and the referee immediately stopped the bout. The Heavyweight bout between V Johnson and Sarabjeet Singh too was a greatly awaited one.

With the heavyweight section having only three boxers Harpal drew a bye into the final while Johnson and Sarabjeet had to slug it out for a place in the final.

India Coach G.S Sandhu opined that Johnson was a terrific boxer and a great stylist. In the heavyweight categories the punches are so lethal that just one shot can knock-out a boxer.

Johnson has good footwork and packs a punch but if he only had the heart that Harpal has, he would be Olympic standard material, Sandhu opined.

Johnson danced and weaved his way around the ring and by the end of the second round had collected more than 20 points lead over Sarabjeet Singh win by outscoring his opponent.

The Hungarian Balog Vilmos, best boxer of the opening day made it into the final without a contest in the semi-final as his opponent from Bangaladesh did not turn up.

The results:

Feather weight: Abdul Latif (Qtr) lost to Junerd Ladon (Phi) 7-22; Pandarinath Shirodkar (Ind) lost to Naveen Dev (Ind B) RSC/OS 4th round.

Light welterweight: F. Lournic (Phi) bt Akash Korgaonkar (Ind) 39-31; Vijendar (Ind R) bt Harvinder Singh (Ind B) 24-6.

Welter weight: Balog Vilmos (Hun) w/o from Bangladesh; V Lavi (Ind G) bt Nawaf Mohd. Bennur (Qtr) 24-21.

Middle weight: Md Suherman (Sing) lost to Parminder Singh (Ind R) RSC/Hd 1st round; Szello Imre (Hun) bt Kanta Singh ( Ind B) RSC/Hd 4th round.

Heavy weight: V Johnson (Ind ) bt Sarabjeet Singh ( Ind) RSC/OS 2nd round.

Best Boxer: Szello Imre (Hun).

Best Loser: Akash Koregaonkar (Ind).

Most Promising boxer: Mohammed Suherman (Sing).

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