Mangalam wins a controversial decision

By M.C. Raman

CHENNAI, JULY 13. The third day in the Hotel Aadithya Federation Cup boxing championship saw real high voltage performance, violation of ring decorum because of the presence of TV cameramen near the ropes during women's bouts and an open outburst of anger by the local fans against one of the verdicts involving the local boy Karl Marx at the Nehru Stadium indoor complex here today.

It was another taxing day for the pugilists as well as the officials as they had to complete the pre-quarterfinal bouts in the lighter weights. This itself was a hectic job, considering the number of entries. Nevertheless, the officials managed to rush through the programme and bring the conduct of the championship under control. Perhaps the huge victory margin in the Marx-Mangalam bout might have provoked some fans to question the authenticity of the verdict. Fortunately, the angry fans did not indulge in any violence and they were cleared after some hot exchanges.

Did Karl Marx of Tamil Nadu fare so badly? Before this quarterfinal bout he was quite impressive and he even knocked down his opponents. This time the bantam weight contest was evenly contested. Mangalam was on the defensive, throwing only occasional punches. Karl Marx looked more impressive in the early stages.

Heavier than his opponent, Mangalam had an advantage in terms of rattling Marx. But he was not so confident in the beginning and the bout picked up momentum in the third round. It could have been close. But the 13-4 decision in favour of the Army boxer was really a big surprise.

Sandeep Kumar of Artillery once again gave an impressive performance when he beat Md. Safdar Khan of India Red in a light fly quarterfinal by 17-9. Khan had the style to match Sandeep's superior punching abilities, but Sandeep was quicker and better organised in defence too.

There were some surprises too. Ramesh Kumar Kutty of Kerala, who was repeatedly warned for using open gloves, knocked down Clinton Antony of MEG twice, once in the opening seconds itself. In between Clinton did show his punching skills and Ramesh was back- pedalling. And then came the surprise when the tall Clinton was off guard and was knocked down. That was the indication of his downfall in the welter weight.

However, the most impressive winners were Abdul Razak of MEG in the feather, Chandra Prakash of Northern Railway in the light welter, Manoj Panvar of MEG in the light welter and R. Kannan of Tamil Nadu in the fly weight. They stood as shining examples for scientific boxing. Most of the time they were right on target and were neat and aggressive in their approach with sharp footwork.

Tamil Nadu was lucky to see Ramesh Kumar enter the semifinals, despite being at the receiving end most of the time. However, the referee disqualified his opponent Kamal Kumar of Tatas for using open glove. There was another incident that drew disqualification after the bout was over. Jagdeep Singh of Punjab left the ring in a huff when the officials declared the result in favour of Goutham Tamang of BEG. He did not stay for the ring referee's declaration. When he came for it the Jury declared Jagdeep's disqualification.

Former outstanding boxers Munusamy Venu, Mukund Killekar, Mathivanan, V. Devarajan, V. Devanand and Williams were honoured by the organisers with mementoes.

The results:

Quarterfinals: Light fly: D. Kannan (Ind-Y) beat Ramesh Shahre (MP) 12-4; Akil Kumar (Del) beat M. Mathivanan (RSPB) 7-4; Pramod Sharma (Del) lost to A. Kamesh (Army) 15-4; Md. Safdar Khan (Ind- R) lost to J. Sandeep Kumar (Artly) 17-9.

Fly: Sanjeev Dutta (RSPB) lost to R. Kannan (TN-A) 14-1; P. Rajesh Prakasam (Ind-B) beat Anurag (HP) 8-0; M. Senthil (TN-A) lost to S.K. Thapa (AR) 15-7; Ramesh Singh Negi (MEG) lost to Rakesh Purty (CDSW) 3-1.

Bantam: Pawan Kumar (Pun) lost to Mahavir Singh (Del) RSC II R; Sanjay Prasad (BEG) beat Jeevan Chand (N. Rly) 10-8; Ramkuilary Yadav (Ind-Y) lost to Puran Rawat (AR) 13-3; W. Karl Marx (TN-A) lost to C.H. Mangalam (Army) 13-4.

Feather: Kamal Kumar (CDSW) lost to Ramesh Kumar (TN-A) disqualfied; Raju Chetri (AR) w/o A. Raju; Venkatesh Kumar (Kar) lost to M. Danaiah (MEG) RSC I R; Kulwant Singh (Ind-B) beat Devadoss Mohite (Artly) 10-9.

Light: Y. Bigyananda Singh (Ind-B) beat M. Narasinga Rao (CDSW) RSC I R; Deepak Kumar (RDPB) lost to C.A. Kuttappa (Army) 11-1; V. Harikrishnan (Ind-R) beat S.B. Tamang (AR) RSC III R; A. Santosh Kumar (MEG) lost to C.H. Adinarayana (SAAP) 8-37.

Light welter: Shamsher Singh (Ind-B) lost to Abdul Razak (MEG) 13-3; Narender Kumar (MP) lost to Chandra Prakash (N. Rly) 12-0; Knitayi (AR) lost to Ramesh Lingam (SAAP) 36-25; Akash Korgaokan (Artly) lost to Manoj Panvar (MEG) 19-4.

Welter: V.K. Tiwari (Artly) beat Bhagiarajan (Army) 16-8.

Pre-quarterfinals: Feather: Kamal Kumar (CDSW) beat Rohit Thapa (Ind-R) 5-0; Satyender Sonkar (Guj) lost to G. Ramesh Kumar (TN- A) RSC II R; Amal Srivastava (UP) lost to Raju Chetri (AR) RSC II; K. Janek (Ker) lost to M. Raju (Vizag) RSC III; M. Danaiah (MEG) beat J. Vinoth Kumar (RSPB) 6-4; Kulwanth Singh (Ind-B) beat Srikanth Poosa (SAAP) disqualifed; Devadoss Mohite (Artly) beat Karan Sonkar (MP) 3-0.

Light welter: Shamsher Singh (Ind-B) beat Dumkamajhi (CDSW) RSC II R; Abdul Razak (MEG) beat Aravind G. Gouda (Guj) RSC II R; Narender Kumar (HP) beat Rajkumar K. Pal (Kar) 8-5; Pooran Lal (RSPB) lost to Chandra Prakash (N. Rly) RSC II R; Knitayi (AR) beat G. Gopinath (TN-A) RSC I R; R. Rammohan (S. Rly) lost to Akash Korgaokar (Artly) 6-2; V.L. Varghese (TN- B) lost to Manoj Panvar (Del) RSC III R.

Welter: Dharmendar Dhariwal (Del) lost to V.K. Tiwari (Artly) RSC III R; B. Giridhar (SAAP) lost to D. Bhagiarajan (Army) 10-0; Ramesh Kumar Kutty (Ker) beat Brijesh Kumar (UP) 12-1; M. Sathyanarayanan (Vizag) lost to Clinton Anthony (MEG) retired; Gowtham Tamang (BEG) beat M.G. Nithyanandam (TN-B) 8-3; Ajay Kashyap (Ind-B) lost to Jagadeep Singh (Pun) 7-6; Manjeeth Singh (Ind-Y) lost to Sanjay Kumar (Ind-R) 15-4; Surendra Singh (AR) lost to Md. Rasheed (TN-A) 15- 4.

Wednesday's results:

Fly weight: Abhishek Malavia (N. Rly) lost to Anurag (HP) 14-6, M. Senthil (TN-A) bt Sanjay Tagore (Delhi) 8-5, S. K. Thappa (AR) bt Manoj Prajapati (UP) RSC III R, Ramesh Singh Negi (MEG) bt Ashish Kumar Sharma (Ind-Y) 4-2, Rakesh Purty (CDSW) bt Ramu Prajuli (Artly) RSC.

Bantam: Pawan Kumar (Pun) bt Ashok Kumar (HP) 14-11, Mahavir Singh (Delhi) bt Nandi Rai Chinnaswamy (rtly) 10-8, Sanjay Prasad (Ben) bt J. E. Arun (TN-B) RSC II R, Jeeven Chand (N. Rly) bt S. Suribabu (Vizag) 7-4, Franklin David (S. Rly) lost to Ram Kulari yadav (Ind-R) 5-4, M. D. Chisty (UP) lost to Puran Rawat (Artly) retired, W. Karl Marx (TN-A) bt Prakash Gurung (Ind-R) RSC I R.

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