Top boxers move into semifinals

Jamshedpur: Top boxers from Manipur and Services sailed into the semifinals after winning their

respective bouts in the 34th National Games at JRD Tata Sports complex here on Monday. In the women`s fly weight (51 kg) class, Rebecca Lalinmawaii of Mizoram was no match for Sarita Devi of Manipur, who was the best boxer of National Championship held in Kerala last December. A former world champion and four times Asian championship gold medallist, Sarita kept on the pressure on her rival with her left-right punches to widen the margin before she clinched the bout easily 18-2. Vinita Mahar of Uttarakhand trounced Rijumoni Patar of Meghalaya 9-2 to move into the semifinal round in the same weight category. Pinky Jangra (Haryana), who created a flutter by defeating five-time world champion M C Mary Kom in the quarterfinal of Senior National Boxing Championship at the same venue two years ago, maintained her form brushing aside international N Tonibala Chanu of Arunachal Pradesh 10-0 to move into the semifinals. In the men`s section, CWG bronze medallist Amandeep Singh of Punjab, internationals Sandeep of Tripura, Th Nanao Singh of Manipur and Sanjay Kolte of Services registered wins over their rivals Madan Lal (Haryana), Amit Kumar Shukla (Jharkhand), Madan Rai (Sikkim) and Madan Lal of Haryana respectively to sail into the semifinal round in the light fly weight (49 kg) category. In the fly weight (52 kg) class for men, junior international Gaurav Bidhuri of Delhi trounced L Devendro Singh (Services) by virtue of better points while Sunil Kumar of Haryana defeated Sunil Sharma of Jharkhand to move into the semifinals. Prakash Darjee of Arunachal Pradesh and Santosh Harijan also outclassed Debendra Thapa of Orissa and Kulwinder Singh of Punjab in the same weight category of the quarterfinal round by points. Playing before the home crowd, Mishal Banjamin Lakra of Jharkhand delivered some powerful punches on Arun Kumar Limbu (Arunachal Pradesh) to emerge 11-5 victorious. PTI