Nine Services boys secure finals berth of Youth Boxing Nationals

Led by India's frontline youth boxers, Vijay Deep and Bhavesh Khattimnani, nine Services boxers ensured almost a whitewash win as they secured final berths of the 3rd Youth Boxing Nationals in Rudrapur, Uttarakhand on Wednesday.

2018 Youth world Bronze medalist Bhavesh Khattinmnani ousted local boxer Sanjay Kumar, displaying a lethal attack and sealing the bout in his favour with a unanimous 5:0 win; he will next take on Haryana’s Ankit in the 52kg summit clash.

Fellow SSCB boxer, Vijay Deep, a bronze medallist at the Golden Glove Boxing Championships in Serbia did not have much to toil, as his opponent faced a round 1 exit with a power, packed knock out punch in Round 1 and Vijay could make it to the finals.

However, the only other services player who failed to make it to the final was Satender Sindh after losing to his opponent, Harsh Gill (91kg) from Haryana in a split verdict.

Haryana stands second in position with 7 of their boxers cruising into the finals while two boxers from Delhi and one each from Assam and Uttar Pradesh also have assured berths in the summit clash.

Assam’s Bullen Buragohain (56kg) advanced to the finals after a thrilling encounter against Chandigarh's Parveen Singh with a split verdict of 4:1 from the judges.

In the women’s category, Haryana continued their dominion with as many as seven boxers guaranteeing finals berth.

However, it was the performance of the young boxers from Rajasthan that stole the show as five of the girls qualified for the finals. Led by Arundhati Chaudhuri, who was voted the best youth women boxer of Asia in 2018 by Asian Confederation of Boxing (ACB) the girls gave a tough fight to their opponents.

Arundhiti, a Khelo Indian trainee defeated Haryana's Alisha in the 69kg semi-finals in a convincing 5:0 verdict. Lipakshi (+81kg), a silver medalist at the Silesian Boxing Championship in Poland continued her fine run for Rajasthan as she defeated her opponent Swastik Bhardwaj with her attacking game that the referee had to stop the contest.

Uttarakhand will see a lone representation in Neha Kasnyal while two of the boxers from UP and Punjab are also assured spots in the final roster.

Kerala picked up three bronze medals courtesy Amala Joseph (69kg) Dalena Biju (75kg) and Parvathi (81kg) medals while AP finished their campaign with two bronze medals in the girl's event. While Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra pulled off three bronze medal each chart as three of their boxers, each settled for the third spot in the boy's category.