The Hindu : Sport : Railways regains title

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Friday, Aug 31, 2007
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Railways regains title

Kirti Patil

— Photo: Sandeep Saxena

PROUD MOMENT: Railways’ Dilbag Singh bagged the best boxer award.

NEW DELHI: Light-flyweight Balbir Singh opened Railways’ gold account before super-heavy Paramjeet sealed the victory as the host regained the team championship after a gap of two years, at the 54th National boxing championship here on Thursday.

On the home turf, Railways had no match as it won six gold, one silver and two bronze medals, leaving the defending champion, Services, a distant second.

Proving a point

Balbir, the 2002 World cadet champion, almost gave up amateur boxing after he was denied a place in the Indian team despite being the best in his weight class.

Balbir’s attitude was cited as a reason to exclude him from the National side. On Wednesday, Balbir out-pointed Services’ Sanjay Kolte, the boxer groomed specially for this weight category.

And in the final, Balbir defeated Assam Rifles’ Bishwajeet 33-11 to make his point heard.

The Chicago World Championship from October 23 to November 3, a qualification tournament for the Beijing Olympics, will give Balbir yet another chance to prove himself.

Three pugilists — S. Suresh Singh, A.L. Lakra and Som Bahadur Pun — who made comeback to competitive boxing after a long lay-off due to varied medical problems, strode all the way to gold medals.

Their places in the World Championship team are certain, but the Services Sports Control Board (SSCB) is yet to decide on whether to release its boxers.

The SSCB has been insisting that its best boxers will compete at the World Military Games in Hyderabad, also scheduled in October.

Jitender Kumar, Jai Bhagwan, Dilbag Singh, Vijender and Paramjeet added a gold medal each after Balbir showed the way. Dilbag was declared the best boxer of the championship.

The results (finals): 48kg: Balbir Singh (Rlys) bt Bishwajeet (Assam Rifles) 33-11; 51kg: Jitender Kumar (Rlys) bt Mukesh (Chd) 31-13; 54kg: S. Suresh (Police) bt Torak (Meg) 29-19; 5 7kg: A. L. Lakra (Ser) bt M. Suresh (Rlys) RSC (OS) III; 60kg: Jai Bhagwan (Rlys) bt K.K.T. Singh (Ser) 24-18; 64kg: Som Bahadur Pun (Ser) bt G. Satyaraju (Jhar) 22-6; 69kg: Dilbag Singh (Rlys ) bt Gurpal Singh (Jhar) RSC (OS) II; 75kg: Vijender (Rlys) w/o Amarjeet (Ser); 81kg: Jasveer (Del) bt Ajay (BSF) RSC (OS) II; 91kg: Manpreet (Ser) w/o Harpal (Man); plus-91kg: P aramjeet Singh (Rlys) bt Mehar (Jhar) 13-12.

Team championship: 1. Railways 61 pts, 2. Services 46, 3. Jharkhand 22.

Medals tally (read as gold, silver, bronze): 1. Railways 6-1-2; 2. Services 3-2-3; 3. Delhi 1-0-2; 4. Police 1-0-0; 5. Jharkhand 0-3-1.

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