Ali stings after slow start, Jitender finishes fast and furiously

Gurbinder Singh of the Services Sports Control Board had a sensible coach in Mukund Kilekar that he was saved in the nick of time. But for t...

Gurbinder Singh of the Services Sports Control Board had a sensible coach in Mukund Kilekar that he was saved in the nick of time. But for the coach, the heavyweight boxer would have suffered more than what the rest — boxers, ring officials, the spectators and the media personnel — actually did, thanks to the powers that be. It used the occasion — long bouts of speeches were the order of the day after the entry of IABF president Abhay Singh Chautala — to garner more points.

Be that as it may, the curtains came down on the 49th Men’s Senior National Boxing Championship at the IG Stadium here today with Services retaining their overall title with 63 points while Railways (54) and Haryana (21) finished behind them in that order. The best boxer title went to Mohammad Ali Qamar and Gurmail Singh of the Services was adjudged the best loser.

The only surprise of the evening was S Suresh Singh’s exit as he failed to defend his title in the fly category and went down 24-25 to Akhil Kumar of the Railways. Another close bout happened to be between Railways’ Ali Qamar and Services’ Khimanand Belwal in lightfly category.

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The two pugilists, matching each other in technique and combination punches, began slowly before picking up the momentum. By the second round, hardly a couple of points separated with Ali Qamar ahead. But in the third Belwal made up with a flurry of left-rights even as Ali Qamar continued to lead. The decisive fourth round saw Belwal coming strongly against his opponent but Ali Qamar kept his cool and sent down a three towards the end to emerge winners.

Suresh Singh, a slow starter, began well only to be surprised by his opponent Akhil Kumar in the second and third rounds which fetched his more points. Though the defending champion made for the loss in the fourth, he missed the gold by a whisker. The rest of the final bouts did not measure up to expectations with five of them were stopped by the referee while the other proved totally one-sided.

The Jitender-Gurbinder bout — the two had to wait quite a while for the speeches to get over after warming up — proved a no-contest. As soon as the bell rang, Jitender sent down a straight and added a couple of left-right hooks and one upper cut even before Gurbinder could raise his arm — only to surrender. So powerful were the blows of Jitender that Killekar sitting down threw the towel in to end the misery of his boy. It was all over in less than a minute.

As for V Johnson, who had a poor bout yesterday, he came to his groove and knocked the stuff out of Shakti Singh for an ‘outclass’ verdict as he forced the referee to stop the super heavy contest in the third round itself.

RESULTS

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Lt Fly: Mohammad Ali Qamar (RSPB) bt K Belwal (SSCB) 23-20. Fly: Akhil Kumar (RSPB) bt S Suresh Singh (CISF) 25-24. Bantam: Dalbir Singh (CISF) bt Y Herojit Singh (Man) 50-36. Feather: Som Bahadur Pun (SSCB) bt D Manikandan (AP) 26-7. Light: B Ramanand (SSCB) bt Pawan Kumar (Har) RSC 3rd. Lt Welter: V Harishnan (RSPB) bt TB Thapa (MEG) 34-22. Welter: A Santosh Kumar (SSCB) bt Anil Kumar (CISF) RSC 2nd. Lt Middle: Kanta Singh (SSCB) bt Rajesh Kumar (CISF) 30-22. Middle: Satish Kumar (SSCB) Joginder Dagar (AIP) RSC 2nd. Lt Heavy: Harpreet Singh (RSPB) bt DB Thapa (MP) RSC OC 2nd. Heavy: Jitender Kumar (RSPB) bt Gurbinder Singh (SSCB) Rtd 1st. Superheavy: V Johnson (SSCB) bt Shakti Singh (RSPB) RSC OC 3rd.

Best Boxer: Mohammad Ali Qamar (Railways); Best loser: Gurmail Singh (SSCB)