Finance
Services finished their National Games campaign in a blaze of glory, winning five gold medals in the boxing ring on Wednesday at the Mahatma Mandir complex here.
While Services had five winners chosen from among six boxing finalists, Haryana had only four of their eight pugilists on display on Wednesday win. With the emotional 75kg class gold won by Nikhil Dubey, the lone Maharashtra finalist, the Western Indian state was able to take second place on the medal table behind Services, who finished with 61 gold, 35 silver, and 32 bronze medals.
Nikhil Dubey fulfilled the dreams of his late coach Dhananjay Tiwary by winning the men’s middleweight gold medal with a 5-0 victory over lesser-known Malsawmitluanga of Mizoram in the men’s middleweight final. Coach Tiwary died in a road accident on Tuesday when on his way here to watch his ward in the final.
Kerala completed a volleyball double in Bhavnagar, winning both the men’s and women’s gold medals.
Kerala men defeated Tamil Nadu 25-23, 28-26, 27-25 to win the Games’ final gold medal.
Kerala had earlier won the women’s volleyball gold medal with a straight-set win over West Bengal. The second set was thrilling, with several extra points played before Kerala won 36-34.
On the final day of the National Games, the Services juggernaut was well served by two-time Commonwealth Games medallist Mohammed Hussamuddin (57kg), Etash Khan Muhammed (60kg), Akash (67kg), Sanjeet (92kg), and Narender (+92kg) at the Mahatma Mandir.
Hussamuddin, a featherweight, used brilliant counterpunches and combinations to defeat Haryana’s Sachin Siwach 3-1 and claim gold. The Telangana native deftly defended himself against the aggression of the World Youth champion before seizing the momentum with clean punches.
Sanjeet, the reigning Asian champion, forced the referee to give his State-mate Naveen (Haryana) a standing count of eight before clinching the bout with authority, determined to make his National Games debut a successful one after a rather unlucky Commonwealth Games campaign.
Ankit Sharma (51kg) and Minakshi (52kg) had earlier added to Haryana’s gold haul by winning the men’s and women’s flyweight finals, respectively.
Ankit defeated Himachal Pradesh’s Avinash Chandel unanimously, while Minakshi, a 2018 Khelo India gold medalist, defeated Uttarakhand’s Shobha Kohli with clean punches to unsettle an opponent who was overly reliant on the counter-attack.
Lovlina Borgohain (Assam) used her jabs and combination punches to perfection against Haryana’s Saweety Boora to earn a memorable gold medal on her National Games debut. Haryana and Assam each had two winners, while Simranjeet Kaur of Punjab won a redeeming gold medal in the 60kg category.
Lovlina Borgohain was happy with the switch to the 75kg division after the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. “I wanted to test myself in the new weight category. It isn’t easy to come back after an injury but I pushed myself to be match ready for the Asian Championships,” an elated Lovlina said.
Earlier, Ankushita Boro, a former Asian Youth champion, kicked off Assam’s campaign with a gold medal in a one-sided women’s 66kg welterweight final against fellow Northeast boxer Alena Thounaojam (Manipur). Ankushita handled her unheralded opponent with grace.
Simranjit Kaur (Punjab) did well to win gold with a clinical 4-0 victory in the women’s lightweight final over Haryana’s Jasmine Lamboria, who looked a pale shadow of herself in the first round. Jaismine, a Commonwealth Games bronze medalist, attempted to regain lost ground, but it was too late.
Punjab’s Mandeep Kaur paid the price for starting defensively in the women’s 57kg featherweight bout, as Haryana’s Poonam took a clear lead after the first two rounds to pocket the contest by a 4-1 margin.
Source:OCN
