NEW DELHI, MARCH 10: India had a mixed bag on the last day as they were forced to share honours with Ukraine in the Coca-Cola New Delhi YMCA Boxing Championships at the Jai Singh Road rings here today. India won nine gold and five silver medlas on the final day.But it was Oleg Yefymovyeh of Ukraine who deservingly emerged as the best boxer of the championships along with his colleague Dandusky Yevgen, who was voted the best in the junior category. Ramanand of India Yellow in the senior division and Amardeep Singh in the sub-junior section kept the Indian flag aflot, winning titles in their respective categories.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 hosts' 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 Sundaram'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).
