Paramjeet sure to win medal at C’wealth Boxing c’ship

India were assured of a medal without even landing a punch as Paramjeet Samota got a bye into the super heavy weight (+91kg) category on the opening day of the fifth Commonwealth Boxing Championships.

New Delhi: India were assured of a medal without even landing a punch as Paramjeet Samota got a bye into the super heavy weight (+91kg) category, while Jai Bhagwan didn’t have to slog too hard either before advancing to the light weight (60kg) quarterfinals on the opening day of the fifth Commonwealth Boxing Championships here on Friday.

However, there was some disappointment as well for the hosts when Olympic and World Championship bronze medalist Vijender Singh’s 19-year-old cousin Balwinder Beniwal crashed out with an opening round loss in the light welter weight (64kg) category. Samota, a two-time national champion, is one of the just four boxers who made the main draw of super heavy category and it would be another couple of days before he fights, taking on Scot Ross Henderson in the semifinals. Jai and Balwinder were the Indians who took the ring today and it turned out to be contrasting for the duo. Jai, an Asian Championship silver-medallist and also a former national champion, clinched it 16-0 against his Botswanian opponent Oratile Segokgo thanks to an aggressive approach. The Indian lowered the guard and dared his opponent to attack early on in the bout. The strategy worked perfectly for the 24-year-old who took a comfortable 6-0 lead in the first three minutes itself with well-connected uppercuts and hooks. The Haryana-boxer added another six points in the second round with a similar approach adding to the frustration of his rival. The final round saw the Botswanian making desperate attempts to make a comeback with wild hooks but Jai’s sharp reflexes ensured that Segokgo didn’t land a single scoring punch. “It was a simple approach to attack early on and see how things go from there. I lowered the guard to entice him and he fell for the trap. Once I got the lead, I took things a bit easy,” Jai said after the bout. Balwinder, in contrast, went into a shell very early in his bout against Mauritian Richarno Colin, who is an Olympian. Egged on by Vijender himself from the stands, Balwinder was cautious to start with as he took a measure of his rival in the first few seconds. An equally cautious Colin followed a similar approach but once he managed to connect a few punches, he went on the offensive. Colin nosed ahead 4-1 in the opening three minutes and as the spunky but inexperienced Balwinder tried tightening his defences, the Mauritian boxer piled on the lead widening the gap to 9-2 at the end of the second round. The final round saw a spirited attempt by Balwinder to claw back but it was Colin’s turn to cover up. Balwinder tried every trick, including some powerful uppercuts, to break his opponent’s defence but it could yield only three points for the Commonwealth Youth Games’ gold medallist as he finished on the losing side much to the disappointment of his more famous cousin. National coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu said he was satisfied with the opening day performance despite Balwinder’s loss. “It was a good performance and Jai used the uppercuts well. I believe the margin of victory could have been bigger but his was a satisfactory performance. Balwinder his young and perhaps his inexperience came in the way,” he said. Meanwhile, Tanzania’s return to international boxing after being banned last year didn’t turn out to be too good as two of their boxers crashed out with opening-round defeats. The country was banned by the International Boxing Association after its boxers were caught smuggling drugs and this was their first tournament after the lifting of the ban. Four Indians will be in action tomorrow with world number one Vijender opening his campaign against Malaysia’s Mohd Haron in the middle weight category. Dilbag Singh (69kg), Olympian Dinesh Kumar (81kg) and Asian champions Suranjoy Singh (52kg) will also kick off their campaign on Saturday. PTI