Date:09/08/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/08/09/stories/2004080903801600.htm

Sport - Boxing

Railways snatches team title from Services

By Kirti Patil

HISSAR, AUG. 8. Light-welter pugilist Som Bahadur Pun won the lone Services-Railways final, a comprehensive 17-3 decision against tough Praveen Kumar, but the Services failed to retain the team championship in the 51st National boxing championships at the Mahavir stadium here on Sunday.

Pun proved himself yet again after being denied a place in the national team for the Olympic qualifiers early this year. He fought with vengeance and defended in his unique style as Railways' Praveen Kumar, who tried to play rough was, put in place. The Railways boxer had good reach but he failed to extract advantage from it as Pun's defence proved vital.

Railways though had consolidated its position in the team championship. From the five finalists it had in the 11 weight categories, it went on to win four gold medals. A silver and three bronze medals handed them 49 points while Services (4-1-1) settled for the runner-up position with 45 points.

Haryana (1-1-2) finished third, as it did in the last Nationals in Bangalore but it was Delhi (2-0-2), which impressed with a much-improved performance. From a literal blank in Bangalore, Delhi capped its performance with two gold and as many bronze medals.

Light-fly Balbir Singh dented the Services campaign early on when he overwhelmed Jonathan in the first final of the day. In fact, Delhi's win made the things easier for Railways as Services was left to struggle.Services' H. K. Beliwal (fly) was declared the best boxer of the championship.

The results:

Light-flyweight: Balbir (Del) bt Jonathan (Ser) 24-7.

Flyweight: H. K. Beliwal (Ser) bt Gurmukh Singh (Pun) 15-12.

Bantamweight: Bijender (Har) bt Torak Kharoram (Meg) 24-13.

Featherweight: A. L. Lakra (Ser) bt L. Roman Singh (Man) RSC (OS) III.

Lightweight: Jai Bhagwan Singh (Rlys) bt Ranjit Singh (Pol) 15-1.

Light-welterweight: Som Bahadur Pun (Ser) bt Praveen Kumar (Rlys) 17-3.

Welterweight: V. Harikrishnan (Rlys) bt Birender (Pun) 9-5.

Middleweight: Parminder (Rlys) bt Gautam Bhargava (Pun) 16-9.

Light-heavyweight: Durjay Shastri (Rlys) bt Sukhvinder (Har) 28-8.

Heavyweight: Ajay Kumar (Del) bt Raj Kumar (BSF) RSC (I) III.

Super-heavyweight: V. Johnson (Ser) w.o Sanjeev Singh (Skm).

Team championship: 1. Railways 49 points, 2. Services 45; 3. Haryana 28.

Medal tally (read as gold, silver, bronze): Railways 4-1-3; Services 4-1-1; Haryana 1-1-2; Delhi 2-0-2; Punjab 0-3-2.