Dingko in semis, Rana ousted

Twenty-three-old Navy official Dingko was the star attraction of Tuesday afternoon. The way Dingko outboxed Mongolia’s Bymbabayr proved that his winning the King’s Cup in 1997 and Asiad gold in 1998 were no fluke.

Dingko looked confident from the start and the way he fought, the short-statured Manipuri turned the bout virtually into a no contest. The Indian opened the score using his darting left hand to good effect. It was his powerful left hook that did the damage, 90 seconds into the first round, connecting with Bymbabayr’s nose. The referee finished the eight-count with the Mongolian back in the ring with a bleeding nose.

The second round started with Dingko looking for a knock-out and he almost managed that as the referee stopped the contest to prevent Mongolian from getting more punishment.

“I always go into the ring in a postive frame of mind and this time, I was determined to win,” Dingko told UNI after his victory. Though the win came as no surprise, coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu’s relief was obvious.

“Dingko is just marvellous, that is all I can say. His opponent is a good boxer but no match for Dingko on this day,” he added.

However, there was no such luck for other Indian Rana in the light category. Pitted against Asheri Mohamed (Iran), it was evident from the start that Rana was up against a tough opponent. Though Rana managed to connect a few powerful blows, he was tentative in his approach. As a result, the Iranian did not allow Rana to dominate.

The Indian managed to ward off Asheri in the first round but in the second, he became a punching bag for his rival. The Iranian took control of the procedings as Rana ran for cover but Asheri landed two solid punches on the Indian.

Rana recovered by the final round and put up a good fight but it was too late by then to rectify the damage. He lost 2-12.

Later, Sandhu said, “I am surprised by the margin because Rana did not box badly.” But he admitted Rana lost to a better boxer.

On Wednesday, all three Indians face Iranians in the semi-finals.

“Basically, it is going to be a contest between our technique and theirs. We do have some plans,” the Indian coach said. “We should make it to the finals in the weight categories in which Rao, Dingko and Sanjit are involved,” Sandhu said but hastened to add it will all depend how the boxers perform in the high voltage contest.