Eight of the nine domestic boxers who competed on the day shown their talent to advance to the knockout rounds of the 5th Junior Boys National Championships, giving Arunachal Pradesh hope as it hosts a national-level competition for the first time.
To advance to the tournament’s round of 16, Techi Jacky (46 kg), Tarok Gongo (48 kg), Loma Riang (50 kg), Gayki Rie (52 kg), Menthok Hodong (54 kg), Tagio Liyak (57 kg), Tarh Lohia (60 kg), and Tangu Ngomle (63 kg) each won their pre-quarterfinal matches in different ways.
In the 46kg clash, Jacky outpunched Nagaland’s Nasim Ali to register a 4-1 split decision victory, before Tarok doubled the joy for the home side by recording a one-sided 5-0 UD (unanimous decision) win over Punjab’s Sahil Jethi in the 48kg light flyweight bout. In the 50kg flyweight category pre-quarters, Loma recorded another handsome win over Himachal Pradesh’s Sunny before Gayki Rie outpunched Rajasthan’s Prashant Gurjar to win by 5-0 UD in their 52kg light bantamweight class bout.
In the afternoon session, Nenthok Hodong brought more joy for the home crowd when he defeated M Rithiswar of Tamil Nadu by 5-0 UD margin. Nenthok dominated the proceedings across all the three rounds as his opponent hardly had any answers to his jabs and punches. Later in the afternoon, Tagio stormed into the 57kg featherweight category quarterfinals by defeating Md. Ashfaq of Telangana by a 4-1 split decision verdict. Both boxers traded punches with equal intensity before Tagio came back with a flurry of jabs to earn the verdict in his favour.
Tarh Lohia made it an eventful evening for the home state by registering a fine 5-0 win in the 60kg lightweight category before Tangu unleashed such fury over Karnataka’s Isa Khan in their 63kg pre-quarterfinal bout that the referees were forced to award the contest in the Arunachal boxer’s favour in the third and final round.
The home team did suffer one setback, though, as Kabak Raju was defeated by Yash Rana of Haryana by a score of 5-0 in the 70 kg pre-quarterfinal round.
Young fighters from Haryana Sikander, Jatin, Yogesh Dhanda, and Vansh also achieved contrasting victory to advance to the round of sixteen. In his opening match of the day, Sikander faced off against Tamil Nadu’s M. Manikanda Vishal in the 48kg division and appeared to be in complete command. Sikander easily won the second round RSC due to Vishal’s inability to withstand his punches, which were very strong.
Jatin (54 kg) defeated Telangana’s Hemanth Kumar with a similar display of strength and dexterity to easily advance to the next round.
(This story has not been edited by Bharat Express staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)