National boxing championship | Jadumanis magic floors Panghal in the semifinal; Nikhat, Lovlina register easy wins

Youth overwhelmed experience as 21-year-old Jadumani Singh beat seasoned Amit Panghal 5-0 to advance to the title clash in the 55kg at the National boxing championship at Gautam Buddha University on Friday.

It was the most keenly watched bout of the day with Jadumani and Panghal, both belonging to the Services Sports Control Board (SSCB), discarding caution and going on the attack from the beginning. Panghal, the senior pro, seemed to have the upper hand initially, with a flurry of punches and jabs, but Jadumani gradually pushed back, finding gaps in his defence and using the occasional upper cut to earn points.

Jadumani will take on World Boxing Cup finals silver medallist Pawan Bartwal in an all-SSCB final. It will be only one of the six all-SSCB finals in the men’s section of the competition, out of the 10 weight categories, as the national championships have virtually become a Services versus everyone else affair. Fifteen of the 20 finalists are from SSCB, the only exception being the heavyweight 90kg, which will see Harsh Chaudhary (Rajasthan) and Naman (RSPB) fight it out for the title.

Among the women, it is Railways that holds sway, with six of the 10 finals featuring an RSPB contender. The spotlight, however, would be on Nikhat Zareen-Nitu Ghanghas, both former world champions but in different categories, while Minakshi Hooda would be looking to defend her 48kg title against 2019 world championship runner-up Manju Rani.

Disruption and delay

The 65kg bout between Services’ Pranjal Yadav and defending champion Neeraj Phogat of Haryana (Har) ended 4-1 in the former’s favour, but it took almost half an hour to complete. The Haryana supporters and Neeraj’s team protested against what they called biased refereeing after the first two rounds were awarded to Pranjal 3-2. The bout was stopped for almost five minutes after the second round, even as both boxers kept waiting inside the ring. The final result was further delayed by almost 10 minutes as the Haryana coach approached BFI president Ajay Singh to protest, adding yet another to the constantly growing list of grievances against the officiating.

The results (semifinals): Men: 50kg: Vishwanath Suresh (SSCB) bt Ronit Raj (Jha) 5-0, Rishi Singh (UP) bt Sanjit Singh (RSPB) 5-0; 55kg: Pawan Bartwal (SSCB) bt Victor Singh (Man) 5-0, Jadumani Singh (SSCB) bt Amit Panghal (SSCB) 5-0; 60kg: Sachin Siwach (SSB) bt Bhupinder Singh (Pun) 5-0, Hussamuddin (SSCB) bt Raman (AIPSCB) 4-1; 65kg: Abhinash Jamwal (HP) bt Rohit (Chd) 4-1, Aditya Pratap (SSCB) bt Amit (RSPB) 5-0; 70kg: Hitesh Gulia (SSCB) bt Vivek (Raj) 5-0, Deepak (SSCB) bt Sumit (Ddn) 5-0; 75kg: Sumit Kundu (SSCB) bt Hitesh (Del) 5-0, Akash (SSCB) bt Deepak Singh (J & K) 5-0; 80kg: Ankush (SSCB) bt Kunal (AIPSCB) 5-0, Malsawmtluanga (SSCB) bt Akshay (Chd) 5-0; 85kg: Jugnoo (SSCB) bt Abhimanyu (RSPB) 5-0, Lokesh (SSCB) bt Yash (Har) 5-0; 90kg: Naman (RSPB) bt Bobin (HP) 5-0, Harsh (Raj) bt Kapil (Utk) 4-1; 90+kg: Narender (SSCB) bt Chetan (HP) 5-0, Sawan Gill (Chd) bt Gaurav (SSCB) 4-1.

Women: 48kg: Minakshi Hooda (AIPSCB) bt Malika Mor (MP) 5-0, Manju Rani (RSPB) bt Guddi (Chd) 4-1; 51kg: Nikhat Zareen (Tel) bt Kusum Baghel (UP) 4-1, Nitu (Har) bt Jyoti (RSPB) 4-0; 54kg: Preeti Pawar (SSCB) bt Aarti Dhariyal (Utk) 5-0, Poonam Punia (RSPB) bt Priyanka (Har) 5-0; 57kg: Vinka (Har) bt Anjali Singh (MP) 3-2, Prachi (RSPB) bt Muskan (AIPSCB) 5-0; 60kg: Disha Patil (Mah) bt Mahi Lama (MP) 4-1, Priya (RSPB) bt Ankushita Boro (Asm) 5-0; 65kg: Pranjal Yadav (SSCB) bt Neeraj Phogat (Har) 4-1, Kajal (Utk) bt Ritu (AIPSCB) 5-0; 70kg: Arundhati Chaudhary (SSCB) bt Sneh (Har) 5-0, Sneha (AIPSCB) bt Gitimoni Gogoi (Asm) 5-0; 75kg: Lovlina Borgohain (Asm) bt Imroz Khan (UP) 5-0, Sanamacha Chanu (RSPB) bt Monika (AIPSCB) 5-0; 80kg: Pooja Rani (Har) bt Sneha (UP) 5-0, Naina (Har) bt Anupama (RSPB) 5-0; 80+kg: Alfiya Khan (RSPB) bt Ritika (Har) 5-0, Mankirat Kaur (Pun) bt Tashree Menaria (Raj) 5-0.