The Hindu : Indians rule the roost

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 09, 2003

Sport

Sport - Boxing

Indians rule the roost

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI FEB. 8 . Diwakar Prasad surprising loss to Turkmenistan's Serdar Shihimon somewhat spoilt India's party in the ONGC-YMCA International boxing championship at the YMCA Complex here on Saturday.

On the concluding when 16 finals were scheduled, the host won eight of the 11 titles in the seniors section and claimed two more from five final clashes in the junior category. As expected, Indian boxers, monopolised the team honours in all sections.

Prasad, one of the better known boxers of the country, was expected to take the bantam gold but was overpowered by Shihimon by a seven-point margin. The challenger from Turkmenistan was indeed very impressive.

He moved better, enjoyed better of the exchanges and stayed out of harm's way. By virtue of being technically superior, Shihimon walked away with the best boxer award in the senior division.

But the loudest cheers were reserved for Balbir Singh who was adjudged the boxer of the meet. In the first final of the afternoon, Balbir Singh had outclassed Ramdas Hansda and forced the referee to stop the contest in the second round of their Light fly bout for juniors.

The best boxer's award in the junior section went to Korea's Kim Yong-Jae who outpointed England's John O'Donnell for the light weight gold.

Final results (Indians unless stated):

Juniors: Lt. Fly: Balbir Singh bt Ramdas Hansda by RSC (OC) second round; Fly: Bayram Annamamedov (Tkm) bt Manoj Kumar 23-15; Bantam: Stephen Smith (Eng) bt Mohammad Nadim Hossen (Ban) 19-10; Feather: Jai Bhagwan Singh bt Kapil Kumar 26-5; Light: Kim Yong-Jae (Kor) bt John O'Donnell (Eng) 25-16.

Seniors: Lt. Fly: M. Suranjoy Singh bt H. K. Beniwal 15-13; Fly: S. Suresh Singh bt S. Kannan 13-6; Bantam: Serdar Shihimon (Tkm) bt Diwakar Prasad 17-10; Feather: A. Lenin Meetie bt Ranjit Singh 17-12; Light: Ramanand bt Ishankuli Mertiniazov (Tkm) 19-19, 72-68 on count back; Lt. Welter: V. Harikrishnan bt D. Bhagyarajan 11-9; Welter: David Coret (Mri) bt Nawf Md. Bennor (Qtr) 22-13; Middle: Satish Kumar Singh w/o Durjai Shastri; Lt. heavy: Harpreet Singh bt Harpal Singh Sandhu 27-6; Heavy: V. Johnson bt Ravi Gill by RSC (OC) third round; Super heavy: Michael Macaque (Mri) bt Balkar Singh 12-8.

Team championship: Sub-juniors: 1. India (Pink) 39 points, 2. India (Yellow) 21 points; Juniors: 1. India (Red) 30 points, 2. India (Green) 19 points; Seniors: 1. India (Red) 39 points, 2. India 28 points.

Best Boxer: Sub-juniors: Rakesh Kalaskar; Juniors: Kim Yong-Jae (Korea); Seniors: Serdar Shihimon (Tkm).

Best Loser: Sub-juniors: Rasul Vlolasher (Tkm); Juniors: Ajit Pal Singh; Seniors: Abdul Hamid (Afg).

Most Promising boxer: Sub-juniors: Lin Po-Chiao (Tpe); Juniors: Zeel Toomi Hadi Abdel Rahman (Qtr).

Best Boxer of the Championship: Balbir Singh (Lt. Fly) in juniors.

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