Haryana’s Vishesh caused a huge upset on the fourth day of the sixth Youth Men’s National Boxing Championships in Gangtok, Sikkim, stunning reigning Asian junior champion Krrish Pal of Chandigarh in a thrilling bout to advance into the 48 kg minimumweight semifinals.
Vishesh and Krrish Pal were at their attacking best right from the start and exchanged a lot of punches. Both the boxers exhibited relentless attack and didn’t give any breathing space to their opponent in the bout.
However, it was Vishesh who ultimately triumphed in the neck-and-neck battle with a 4-3 split verdict. He will take on Rishi from Services Sports Control Board (SSCB) in the next round. The encounter promises to be an intense showdown between two outstanding young boxers, as they vie for a spot in the finals.
In another upset, 2021 Asian boxing champion Rohit Chamoli faced defeat at the hands of Umesh Kumar of Delhi in the 54kg quarterfinal bout. Umesh outclassed Rohit with his clear punching and swift movement to win the bout 4-1 and reach the semis. He will next face SSCB’s Ashish.
Asian junior champion Bharat Joon (92kg) of Haryana continued his great form and dominated another bout to win comfortably. His power punches had no answer from Uttarakhand’s Riddhuman Subba and eventually, the referee had to stop the contest in the third round. He will square off against Avchal Shai of Madhya Pradesh in the semi-final bout.
Apart from Bharat and Vishesh, seven other Haryana boxers — Harsh Nagar (54kg), Akshat (57kg), Yashwardhan Singh (63.5kg), Rupesh (67kg), Ishan Kataria (80kg), Vinay Kumar (86kg) and Lakshay Rathi (92+kg) — entered the last-four stage.
Defending champions SSCB continued their domination with all 13 of their boxers reaching the semifinals. Joining Rishi (48kg) in the last-four stage are 12 other talented SSCB boxers who have shown their prowess in their respective weight categories. Rest of the boxers are- Aryan (51kg), Ashish (54kg), Nikhil (57kg), M Hanthoi (60kg), Krish Kamboj (63.5kg), Ankush (67kg), Preet Malik (71kg), Yogesh (75kg), Arman (80kg), Ayran (86kg), Harsh (92kg) and Rythm (92+kg).
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