The Hindu : Sport : Narjit provides the silver lining

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Oct 20, 2007
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Sport

Sport

Narjit provides the silver lining

V.V. Subrahmanyam

— PHOTO: P.V. SIVAKUMAR

P. Narjit Singh.

HYDERABAD: P. Narjit Singh provided the silver lining in the ring for he was the only Indian to enter the final (54kg) as four of his teammates — H.K. Beliwal, G. Satyaraju, D. Bhagyarajan and Mohinder Thapa — were knocked out in the semifinals of their respective weight categories in the fourth Military World Games boxing championship at Gachibowli Indoor Stadium here on Friday.

However, all these losing semifinalists will be bronze medal winners and Narjit a silver medal even if he loses the final to be held on Saturday.

Cautious start

The 24-year-old Narjit was cautious to start with against Korean Sik Kwan Jang, picking only three points each in the first and second round.

But soon, he came up with a deadly left-hook which was predominant right through.

“I was avoiding any big blows initially ahead of the final for I was confident from the start that I would be fighting for the gold,” remarked the Indian boxer later.

The King’s Cup silver medallist was much superior to get the better of his Korean opponent Jang Kwan Sik for a 18-11 verdict.

Too good

Earlier, there was huge disappointment for the crowd which lustily cheered the first Indian to enter the ring — Harikishan Beliwal in the 51kg category semifinal against Linzhi Gao of China.

The Chinese boxer was just too good for the Indian and won the bout with a convincing 15-7 verdict.

G. Satyaraju in the 64kg category could not do anything special against the very stylish and aggressive Yauheni Ramashkevich of Belarus as the latter notched up a convincing 21-5 win. Another Indian D. Bhagyarajan went down meekly at 8-24 lost to H. Rawshan of Uzbekistan in the 69kg category.

Mohinder Thapa was the last Indian boxer to bow out of the competition with a 2-18 loss to Vetsaleh Dymaka of Belarus in the 81kg.

The results (all semifinals):

48kg: Liang Gao (Chn) bt Kazakov Sergey (Rus) 20-5; Hyeok Seung Gu (Kor) bt Shariyor Isakov (Uzb) 29-13.

51kg: Linzhi Gao (Chn) bt H.K. Beliwal (Ind) 15-7; John Franklin (USA) bt Won Dong Lee (Kor) 24-21.

54kg: Marcel Schneider (Ger) bt Ryom Jin Chol (DPR) 20-9; P.Narjit Singh (Ind) Sik Kwan Jang (Kor) 18-11.

57kg: Andrei Treslkov (Rus) bt Illya Gyravel Ilya (Ukr) 26-10; Abdugaffor Umarov (Uzb) bt Alee Shili (Tun) 18-13.

60kg: Schaer Sandro (Ger) bt Hyon Wang John (DPR) 20-14; M. Bahodir (Uzb) bt Luca Melis (Ita) 24-4.

64kg: Zubok Alexei (Rus) bt Samuel Martinez (USA) 24-4; Yauheni Ramashkevich (Blr) bt G. Satyaraju (Ind) 21-5.

69kg: Tofig Ahmadov (Aze) bt H. Sorensen Carsten (Den) 27-13; H. Rawshan (Uzb) bt D.Bhagyarajan (Ind) 24-8.

75kg: Shved Danil (Rus) bt Stefan Haertel (Ger) 21-4; Mikhalai Vesimov (Blr) bt Sharof Hasanov (Uzb) 14-10.

81kg: Vetsaleh Dymaka (Blr) bt Mohinder Thapa (Ind) 18-2; Kovalev Serguei (Rus) bt B.Abdelhfid (Alg) 29-8.

91kg: Elyorbek Gulomov (Uzb) bt Magomedov Musalchi (Rus) 18-8; Joe Guzman (USA) w\o Ibraheem Al Zaabi (UAE).