The Hindu : Sport / Boxing : Qamar packs a punch

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 04, 2004

Sport

Sport - Boxing

Qamar packs a punch

By Kirti Patil

HISSAR, AUG. 3. Commonwealth Games gold medallist Mohammed Ali Qamar started cautiously before landing a right hook to send Dharminder reeling to the ropes to win his first round bout in the light flyweight category, in the 51st National boxing championship at the Mahavir stadium here on Tuesday.

Qamar absorbed two strong blows early on and seemed little tentative against Dharminder of Chandigarh. In the second round, the Railways boxer went into the offensive mood.

Not being part of the Athens-bound boxing team has been a big letdown for Qamar. "I want to start afresh though I missed the Olympic Games this time," Qamar said. There was no guarantee that he would maintain the same fitness and fire four years down the line, but Qamar's resolve augurs well for the sport.

Balbir advances

World cadet champion Balbir Singh of Delhi also joined Qamar in the second round with an exciting win. Balbir won the contest against Surapat I. Chinna of Andhra Pradesh when the referee stopped the contest in the second round.

Also making through in the light-fly class were Bengal's Dipak Roy, Services' Jonathan, Haryana's Sonu and Punjab's Amandeep Singh. Against Maharashtra's Nilesh, Amandeep was rattled by early blows but he recovered in time and stretched the contest to the full distance and won 21-8.

The start of the competition had an inordinate delay as the organisers went about an elaborate opening ceremony. Later, the bouts were stopped to accommodate a fireworks show, which turned out to be a dampener as intermittent rain played the spoilsport.

The results (first round):

Light flyweight: Dipak (Ben) bt Basanta Singh (Man) RSC (OC) II; Amandeep Singh (Pun) bt Nilesh (Mah) 21-8; Mohammed Ali Qamar (Rlys) bt Dharminder (Chd) RSC (OS) II; Kaleem Ahmed (Aru) bt Ghulam Ghous (Jhar) RSC (OS) III; Sonu (Har) bt D. Iganta Nath (Asm) RSC (OS) II; Jonathan (Ser) bt Khemchand (CISF) 24-10; L. Zuala (Miz) bt S. B. Thapa (Assam Rifles) 89-68; Arun Singh (Pol) bt Shailendra Singh (UP) 23-2; Balbir Singh (Del) bt Surapat I. Chinna (AP) RSC (OS) II; Ramdas Hansda (Steel Plant) bt Hardeep (HP) RSC (OS) II; Dup Bdr Pun (Meg) bt Sukamtak Dalai (Ori) 16-13; Prithvi Raj (TN) bt Ashok Rana (Guj) RSC (OC) II; Rajesh Saini (Raj) bt Vinod Kumar (Goa) 13-7; Raj Kumar (Kar) bt N. Angou Singh (BSF) RSC (OS) III; Pankaj Praveen (MP) bt Subhash Singh (Skm) RSC (OC) II; Himansudi Gupta (Utr) bt Pankaj Kumar (Cht) 9-6.

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