31 October,2017 08:59 AM IST | Visakhapatnam | PTI
Manoj Kumar claimed his second successive National Championships' gold but Shiva Thapa settled for a silver on an eventful day of summit clashes in the premier domestic boxing event here today
Manoj Kumar claimed his second successive National Championships' gold but Shiva Thapa settled for a silver on an eventful day of summit clashes in the premier domestic boxing event here today. Manoj (69kg), competing for the Railways Sports Promotion Board (RSPB), got the better of Services Sports Control Board's (SSCB) Duryodhan Singh for his second successive gold at the event in a 4-1 decision. Another defending champion, Shiva, however, lost on a split verdict to SSCB's Manish Kaushik, settling for the silver medal in the lightweight (60kg) category. World Championship bronze medallist Shiva began on an aggressive manner, connecting some good punches, but in the second round he sustained a cut above his eye and the referee had to stop the contest momentarily.
Manoj Kumar
After the forced break, Shiva, competing for his home state Assam in the event, was not at his 100 per cent but he did not give up. Manish, though, had the last laugh. Manoj was adjudged the best boxer, while Manish was declared the most promising boxer King's Cup gold-medallist Shyam Kumar (49kg), who was representing RSPB, pulled off a close 3-2 win over Mizoram's Nt Lalbiakkima in the final to claim the top honours.
Commonwealth Games silver-medallist Mandeep Jangra, who is competing for the RSPB, won his maiden national title in the middleweight (75kg) category, after he out-punched Mizoram's Vanhlimpuia 5-0. Asian Games bronze-medallist Satish, who turned up for the SSCB, defeated Haryana's Parvin Kumar 5-0 to claim the super heavyweight (+91kg) gold. In the other bouts of the day, SSCB's Madan Lal became the bantamweight (56kg) champion after edging past Goa's Santosh Harijan 3-2 in a hard-fought contest. The light welterweight (64kg) crown went to SSCB's Dheeraj Rangi. Dheeraj did not even have to step inside the ring as his rival, Basant Thapa of Madhya Pradesh, gave him a walkover owing to an injury picked up his previous bout.
Similar was the case of Manish Panwar, who clinched the 81kg gold after a walkover from Delhi rival Neel Kamal. Haryana fetched just one gold medal in this edition with Naman picking up the heavyweight (91kg) top honours with a 5-0 win over Himachal Pradesh's Varinder Kumar. RSPB's Salman Sheikh beat Laldinmawia of Mizoram to claim the top honours in the 52kg division.
