Bheem Singh eyes gold

BANGALORE, June 6: Crowd support sets the adrenalin flowing in any sportsperson, more so in boxing. But Services suffered their first rever...

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BANGALORE, June 6: Crowd support sets the adrenalin flowing in any sportsperson, more so in boxing. But Services suffered their first reverse in the boxing ring at the their own backyard, MEG Centre, when one of their strong medal prospects Choaba Singh was stopped from entering the medal round at the fourth National Games here. Choaba lost to Punjab’s Bheem Singh, who now looks all set to win the light fly gold.

With the schedule going haywire, because of rain on two successive days, the tournament officals decided to shift part of the action to MEG. The move enabled them to complete the backlog that had mounted to over 70 bouts by Thursday night.

However, that meant many boxers had to fight twice on the day in the morning’s pre-quarters and, then, the quarter-finals in the evening. But that was inevitable as the event had to be completed by Sunday and it could not be extended as many teams had already booked their tickets for their return journey.

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Going back to the action, barring Choaba’s upset, the other four Services boxers on view Narender Rana (light), Tuk Bahadur Thapa (welter), K Mani (light welter) and Jeevan Fernandez (light middle) — remained on course by taking their appointed places in the semifinals.

Other states to figure prominently in the medal round so far, are Punjab and Bihar who have sent three and two boxers respectively into the semifinals.Inspired by Bheem Singh’s giant-killing act, Punjab’s U Kumar (light) earned a split decision against B Saini from Haryana.