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Boxing
Ramanand outslugs Birju
By Kamesh Srinivasan
NEW DELHI, FEB. 7. Reputation does not matter and in the ring years of hard-earned fame may mean nothing if age catches up with you. Two renowned boxers, Birju Sah and Lalit Prasad, learnt this the hard way as they crashed out in the 48th National boxing championship quarterfinals at the YMCA Complex here on Thursday.
In a clash between two `best boxers' of past editions, P. Ramanand of Services overwhelmed Birju Sah with a flurry of punches in the lightweight section. The jury stopped the bout when Ramanand, who ripped open the defence of the bulky Birju, led 18-2 in the third round.
Birju had won the `best boxer' award, not just in the National championship but also in the YMCA international championship. He won the bronze in the Asian and Commonwealth Games, but was a poor shadow of his original self here.
Hardeep Singh asserted the power of youth when he scored a 8-5 victory over six-time National champion and two-time National Games title winner Lalit Prasad.
Lalit was obviously slow and scored half his points because of the two warnings given to his opponent. The 33-year- old Railway pugilist had won the light middleweight silver last year and had no option but to fight in middleweight. It was a punishing experience, and realising that he was quickly slipping behind time, Lalit announced his retirement to the media after the bout.
Jitender Kumar was a class act as he knocked out Subash Kanwar in the first round of the heavyweight section. A combination of punches into the rib cage sent Subash crashing on to the canvas, and he could not stand up when the referee counted out 10. Host Railways was at the receiving end this day in many bouts. D. Bhagya Rajan of Services was responsible for sending out one, beating Mohammed Rashid 11-0 in the welterweight section.
Olympian Suresh Singh of the CISF beat Tausif Khan of the Steel Plant in the flyweight class, forcing the referee to stop the bout in the third round.
Dingko Singh yet again emphasised his craft and confidence, as he toyed around with Mujtaba Kamal of the Railways. The latter stood his ground against his fleet-footed opponent who eked out a 13-7 triumph in the featherweight class.
Mohammed Ali Qamar and Rosema Coloney moved into the light flyweight semifinals in contrasting styles. Qamar won in three rounds, while Coloney scraped through to a 19-17 triumph over Girish Pawar.
In bantamweight, Diwakar Prasad of Steel Plant recorded a 12-9 victory over A.L. Lakra of Services.
Some Delhi boxers made it to the semifinals. Ram Gautam beat Ramesh Kumar of Kerala on the basis of individual scores of the five judges, 39-24, after being tied 5-5. Gautam had trailed 0-2 after two rounds, before getting his act right in the last two rounds.
The tall Lalit Singh did well to make the featherweight semifinals with a 16-10 victory over Baldev Singh of Uttar Pradesh. The National Stadium trainee used his height to deliver his punches.
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