The Hindu : Sport : Indian boxers pack a punch

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 17, 2007
ePaper

Sport

Sport - Sports : General

Indian boxers pack a punch

V.V. Subrahmanyam

HYDERABAD: Indian boxers continued to dominate the ring with three of them — H.K. Beliwal, G. Satyaraju and A.L. Lakra — moving into the quarterfinals in their respective weight categories in the fourth Military World Games boxing competitions at Gachibowli Stadium here on Tuesday.

The fourth boxer in action today, Amarjit Singh, too had a winning start out-punching Arsen Martirosian of Ukraine 14-8 in the qualifying round of the 75kg weight category.

The tempo for an Indian evening was set by 23-year-old Harkishan Beliwal who recorded an impressive 22-0 win over You Ssouf of Guinea in the 51kg when the referee had to stop the contest after he outscored the opponent in the second round itself. Beliwal of Artillery Centre (Golconda) brought the sparse crowd to its feet with a powerful blend of left and right hooks which repeatedly had You Ssouf on the defensive.

Commonwealth championship gold medallist A.L. Lakra was the second Indian boxer in action and he too did not disappoint with a creditable 19-13 win over Kim Il Won of DPR Korea in the 57kg category. “I had some stiffness in the body initially but once I was comfortably moving around, then I could control the bout,” he remarked later. The Chief Security Officer in Indian Navy (Mumbai) said it was a very tough bout. The biggest cheers were reserved for G. Satya Raju, who outpunched Herbert Nkabiti of Botswana for a 33-11 win in the 64kg category. A flurry of left and right jabs had the rival on the ring and he even took the count in the second round itself before recouping energy to be back in action. But the Indian was just too good for him picking points consistently in the third and fourth rounds to seal a satisfying win to the lusty cheers from the home crowd (he hails from Visakhapatnam though now settled in Bhillai).

The results:

51kg: H.K. Beliwal (Ind) bt You Ssouf (Gui) 20-0 (RSC - outscored second round); Jong Chol Bak (DPR) bt Ndhlovu Philimon (Zam) 26-6; Gao Linzhi (Chn) bt Alex Ferramosca (Ita) 24-4; Bouji Hafid (Ger) bt Dzhunkivskyy Oleksiy (Ukr) 21-17; John Franklin (USA) bt Samvel Kariuki (Ken) 16-11; Toshmatov Rahmondsen (Uzb) bt Ossama Hosni (Tun) 21-5; Lee Dong Won (Kor) bt Thai Ngyuyen Thanh (Vie) 26-11; Abdoul Khamitov (Rus) w\o. Ahmadov Mahamad (Aze).

57kg: A.L. Lakra (Ind) bt Won Il Kim 19-13; Shili Alee (Tun) bt Verleysen Ignace (Bel) 17-8; Umarov Abdugaffor (Uzb) bt Kariso Tsenoli (Les) 21-0 (RSC – outscored); David Kasina (Ken) bt Sadiq Altaf Alam (Qatar) 28-7; Disavino Alessio (Ita) bt Fuchs Benjamin (Ger) 2-2 (based on judges’ individual opinion); Guseynov Namik (Aze) bt Nguiluka Mathias (Nam) 16-3; Andrei Strelkov (Rus) bt Summerville Rosey (USA) 20-0 (RSC – outscored).

61kg: Kopo Moses Chulsu (Les) bt Nace Pavlin (Slo) 20-0 (RSC – outscored); Alexei Zubok (Rus) bt Artikov Zokir (Uzb) 25-14; Martinez Samuel (USA) bt Shili Ali (Tun) 25-5 (RSC- outscored); Mathenge Blackmoses (Ken) bt Abdallah Baony (Jor) 18-9; G. Satyaraju (Ind) bt Nkabiti Herbert (Bot) 33-11.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail