Qamar, Pawar forge ahead

SHIMLA, OCT 12: South Asian gold medallist Ali Qamar of Railway Sports Promotion Board RSPB defeated P Dinakaran of Pondicherry in the light flyweight category as the 46th National Boxing Championship got off to a flying start here today. Qamar beat Dinakaran in the second round as the latter retired from the contest.

As many as 33 bouts in light fly, fly and bantam weight divisions were fixed for today. The bouts, being fought in two rings in the open, were still continuing. Thirtyseven teams will be vying for honours under various categories in the championship which will close on Sunday. In all, 11 bouts were held in the light flyweight category. Sandeep Kumar of Andhra Pradesh trounced B Velu of Karnataka in the second round as the referee stopped the contest RSC. Similarly KA Gaffar of Tamil Nadu outclassed Chakraborty of Tripura in the first round on RSC.

Anurag of Himachal Pradesh and Jatiswors of Manipur lost to Pramod Kumar Delhi and S Suresh Singh CISF respectively, on points.

SB Thapaof Assam Rifles beat Babul Gorh of Assam as referee stopped the contest in the fourth round. Other pugilists who won in the third round on the basis of RSC in the light fly weight category were Girish Pawar Maharashtra and RS Negi Services Sports Control Board defeating Rakesh Kumar Punjab and PH Sajith Kerala respectively. Safdar Khan of Bengal and Jonathan of Mizoram routed Anand Kumar Chandigarh and Mutra Purty of Bihar on points.

In the flyweight category, Tara Singh of Punjab beat AB Gupta Gujarat as the referee stopped the contest due to a blow to the head.