Ramanand voted best in senior division

Lukily for India, Ukraine did not field any pugilist in the senior division, giving India almost a clean sweep of gold with five coming the hosts8217; way. The only title to elude the home team in the division was won by Sri Lankan A.B. Ratnayaka, who fought against Malaysian Rakib B. Ahmed.

But as for as the junior section was concerned, four of the five gold medals went to Ukraine, whose boxers showed what they were capable of. Except in feather weight category, where V. Harikrishnan, brother of V. Devarajan, withstood the onslaught from the best boxer of the championship to lose 9-17, the rest of the verdicts were all RSCs.

Sandeep Kumar of India-P, in light fly class, was lucky to win the bout against Safdar Khan of India-Y with the individual judges verdicts 66-57 going in his favour after the computer scores indicated a tie at 15-15. With two Indians pitted against one another, a gold was assured in this class.

The Indians, however, did not reckon what was in store for them in the rest of the four. Every Ukranian pugilist pounded their Indian opponents with power-packed punches to subject them to standing counts.

As a result, Ploay Rov Viktor forced Sombahadur Pun to retire in the third round and Andrpi Tsurupa, the 17-year-old junior champion back home, sent down right-left with equal measures to Selvaraj Sundaram8217;s body and face and referee intervened in the second round to put a stop to the bout.

Dandusky Yevgen connected powerful blows to the head of Indian Anit Kumar in light middle class and in the third round after two standing counts the Ukranian got a RSC H verdict. Earlier, three easy gold beckoned the hosts in the sub-junior categories as five Indians fought three final bouts with the odd man being a Bangladeshi.

In the senior finals, the results went the expected way. Suresh Singh, Ramanad, Narendra Rana, Gurcharan Singh and Harpal Singh scoring easy wins over their opponents. The only one-sided bout of the day, however, turned out to be between Asian Games bronze medallist Gurcharan Singh of India Y and Shiv Pratap Chopra of India P. The tall Gurcharan, opening up the guard of Chopra, pounded with left-right combinations. Within minutes of the start, Gurcharan connected a left hook to Chopra to send him crumbling down. This one blow was sufficient to take care of the rest of the rounds as Chopra kept backpedalling even as Gurcharan dropped his guard and invited him to go for the punches. The end result was a 19-0 verdict in favour of the bronze medallist.

New Delhi YMCA honoured Asian Games gold medallist Dingko Singh and Gurcharan Singh with a purse of Rs 50,000 and Rs 10,000, respectively, besides recognising the services of IABF vice-president Ashok Gangopadhyaya and national coach G S Sandhu.

Results: All finals: Sub-junior: Balbir Singh Ind-P b Md. Daud Hossain Ban 25-16; Navin Kumar Ind-Y b Diwakar Prasad Ind-P 16-1; Prakash Gurang Ind-Y b Anil Kumar Singh Ind-P 17-3.

Winner: India P 27 pts; Runner-up: India Y 4 pts. Best Boxer: Amardeep Singh Ind-P 36-39 kg class; Best Loser: Ramdas Hansda Ind-Y 36-39 kg; Most Prospective Boxer: Balbir Singh Ind-P 39-42 kg.

Junior: Lt Fly: Sandeep Kumar Ind-P b Safdar Khan Ind-Y 66-57 15-15; Bantam: Polay Rov Viktor Ukr b Sombahadur Pun Ind-P Rtd 3rd; Feather: Oleg Yefymovyeh Ukr b V. Harikrishnan Ind-Y 17-9; Welter: Andrpi Tsurupa J/Ukr b Selvaraj Sundaram Ind-P RSC 2nd; Lt Middle: Dandusky Yevgen Ukr b Anit Kumar Ind-Y RSC H 3rd.

Winner: Ukraine 25 pts; Runner-up: India P 15 pts. Best Boxer: Dandusky Yevgen Ukr Lt. Middle; Best Loser: Safdar Khan Ind-Y Lt Fly; Most Prospective Boxer: Sandeep Kumar Ind-P Lt Fly.

Senior: Lt Fly: S. Suresh Singh Ind-P b Boush Auduth Rajcoomar Mau 21-5; Fly: A.B. Ratnayaka SL b Rakib B. Ahmed Mal 11-9; Feather: Ramanand Ind-Y b Christopherly Albert Mau 35-7; Light: Narendra Rana Ind-Y b Leki Bhu 35-7; Lt Heavy: Gurcharan Singh Ind-Y b Shiv Pratap Chopra Ind-P; Super heavy: Harpal Singh Ind-Y b Ajantha Gamini SL Rtd 2nd.

Winner: India Y 37 pts; Runner-up: Sri Lanka 15 pts. Best Boxer: Ramanand Ind-Y; Best Loser: Rakib B. Ahmed Mal. Boxer of the championships: Oleg Yefymovyeh Ukraine.