Naman Tanwar stuns Sumit Sangwan in 91kg trial to strengthen case for CWG selection

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New Delhi: World youth bronze-medallist Naman Tanwar upstaged Asian silver-medallist Sumit Sangwan in the heavyweight (91kg) category trials to strengthen his case for selection in India's boxing squad for next month's Commonwealth Games.

Tanwar, who took to boxing for weight management, got the better of his decorated rival in the trial held at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium. The Boxing Federation of India (BFI) had decided to conduct trials for only the 91kg and 52kg categories and selected the rest of the six male boxers for CWG on the basis of a points system put in place before the national championships last year.

Both Tanwar and Olympian Sangwan had claimed bronze medals at the India Open in January. The 20-year-old Tanwar had earlier claimed a gold medal and the Best Boxer award at the Galym Zharylgapov Tournament in Karaganda, Kazakhstan.

Even though Tanwar won today's trial, his selection for CWG would be confirmed only after India's World Series of Boxing (WSB) clash against the Russian team tomorrow in an away tie. The reason for this is India Open gold-medallist Sanjeet, who would be in action during the WSB tie.

Should he go on to win his bout, it has been decided to finalise Sanjeet's name for the Games scheduled to be held in Gold Coast from April 4 to 15. The last date to submit the squad for CWG is March 5.