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Chandigarh, October 8
Chandigarh’s Pankaj Chauhan (75kg) reached the semifinals of the 4th Elite Men’s National Boxing Championships at Baddi after he received a walkover against Punjab’s Lakhbir Singh today. Chauhan will fight Haryana’s Ankit Khatana for a place in the final.
In another 75-kg contest, Rohit Tokas stunned Asian Championships silver medallist Ashish Kumar to enter the semifinals. The Railways’ boxer adopted a counter-attacking strategy against the local lad and succeeded in landing more punches on Kumar to register a 4-1 win over his much fancied opponent.
“It is my first tournament in the new weight category and defeating a big player is always a huge morale booster,” said Rohit, who had won gold medal in the last edition of the tournament.
“I worked a lot on my strength and did a lot of weight training during my preparation ahead of the Nationals. I am glad that my counter-attacking strategy worked today. Hopefully, I will win the gold medal again,” he added.
In other bouts, Shiva Thapa (63kg) showed his composure and experience as he breezed past Delhi’s Yogesh Tokas 4-0 in a one-sided bout. The World Championships bronze medallist will face Uttar Pradesh’s Abhishek Yadav in the semifinals.
Sachin Siwach (57kg) also sailed into the last four. He was aggressive and did not put a foot wrong in his 5-0 demolition of Telangana’s Michael Dominic. The Services’ boxer will take on Punjab’s Sagar Chand for a place in the finals on Wednesday.
In the bantam weight category, 2018 Commonwealth Game’s bronze medallist and Services’ pugilist Mohammad Hussamuddin continued his winning spree with a unanimous win over Haryana’s Neeraj.
Railways’ Naman Tanwar (91kg) blasted his way past Rajasthan’s Akhil Poonia with a 5-0 win in the quarterfinals. Tanwar will be up next against last year’s bronze medallist Kapil Pokhariya. The Uttarakhand boxer trounced Maharashtra’s Mrunal Zarekar 5-0 in the quarterfinals.
Services’ PL Prasad (52 kg) was no match to his UP opponent Sudeep Kumar. — TNS
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