Meghalaya’s direct interest in the 7th Elite Men’s National Boxing Championship ended today in the pre-quarterfinal round with the defeats of the last two local boxers left standing – Badonkupar Synnah and Bhalang Shadap – but not before they gave the home fans plenty of thrills.
However, there are still plenty of the country’s best male boxers remaining in the competition and the action is getting all the more intense as the championship moves closer to the title fights.
There were 104 bouts scheduled on what was a busy day for the boxers and officials from the BFI, which was made easier thanks to the tireless work of the MBA, Department of Sports and Youth Affairs and the many volunteers enlisted to keep the action running smoothly.
2018 Asian Games champion Amit Panghal of Services won his flyweight 48-51kg fight Jayshandeep Singh of Punjab via split decision. It was not an all-or-nothing attack by either boxers, more of a measured contest, but Panghal seemed a little unhappy with his own performance even though the bout was declared in his favour.
Later, Assam’s Shiva Thapa, who won the gold medal in the last edition, took the fight to Santhosh HK of Karnataka in the light welterweight 60-63.5kg category. Unlike his first round match yesterday, which he won via split decision, Thapa took this bout comfortably enough by unanimous verdict of the judges.
Other top boxers, like 2019 Asian Championships silver medallist Ashish Kumar Chaudhary, were set to have their fights later in the evening.
The two Meghalaya pugilists who had put up fantastic efforts to win their opening fights also took part today.
Synnah, in the same light welterweight category as Thapa, faced Harsh Vardhan Joshi of Uttarakhand. Synnah literally had his opponent on the ropes on a few occasions but both were flagging by the third round, with Joshi able to pick up enough points to win the bout on split decision.
Bhalang Shadap, in the welterweight 63.5-67kg category, was up against Parlad Singh of Punjab, who had a noticeable height advantage over the local lad. Although Shadap landed a few good blows, Parlad was the clear winner and took the contest on points.
