Big Bout Indian Boxing League

Harpal Singh Bedi

New Delhi: Riding on Naveen Boora and Ananta Chopade”s heroics Bombay Bullets overpowered fancied Gujarat Giants 4-3 to stay alive in the Big Bout Indian Boxing League .

The win helped Bombay Bullets (11 points from three matches) regain a top four position behind leaders Gujarat Giants (17 from four), Odisha Warriors (13 points from four), Punjab Panthers (12 points from three) and alongside NE Rhinos (11 points from three). Earlier, the Rhinos picked up a win by a point that Odisha Warriors’ Uzbek import Jasurbek Latipov gifted by being disqualified.

With 14 points in their kitty , Gujarat Giants decided to rest skipper Amit Pangal (52kg class), former world champion Sarita Devi (women’s 60kg) and Mohammed Husamuddin (57kg). And after winning the toss, they blocked Chirag’s 57kg class bout against Kavinder Bisht.

For Bombay Bullets, who fielded an unchanged line-up in their three matches, Naveen Boora and Ananta Chopade were the heroes . The effervescent 20-year-old Naveen Boora beat Duryodhan Negi in a hard-fought 69kg battle. Ananta Chopade (52kg) was a class act as he gained a unanimous verdict over Pangal’s replacement, Sanjay Kumar.

These victories sandwiched winning efforts by Spaniard Emmanuel Reyas who beat British champion Scott Forrest in the 91kg battle and skipper Ingrit Lorena Valencia who held back a challenge by Monika in the women’s 51kg bout for the team to open up a 4-0 lead over the table-toppers.

Gujarat Giants needed to pick up at least a win to retain their place at the top of the table and the first of three wins came through Parveen Hooda. The recently-crowned South Asian Games champion outclassed Spaniard Melissa Noemi Gonzalez in the women’s 60kg bout by making the most of her height and reach to quell Bombay Bullets’ hopes of storming higher on the charts.

Gujarat Giants showcased some of their might through Ashish Kumar who won the third time in four starts, this time picking up a unanimous verdict over Prayag Chauhan. Poonam rallied from being at the receiving end in the opening round of her Youth Women’s 57kg bout to turn the tables on Priya Kushwaha to earn her third successive victory.

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Harpal Singh Bedi

Gaurav Solanki of Odisha Warriors (yellow) beat Bengaluru Brawlers’ Gaurav Bidhuri by 3-2 on day 5 of the Big Bout Indian Boxing League being held at the IG Indoor Stadium, New Delhi

New Delhi: Putting behind successive defeats Odisha Warriors, staged a fine comeback chalking out afacile 6-1 victory over Bengaluru Brawlers to keep their hopes alive for a berth in last four spots in the Big Bout Indian Boxing League here on Saturday.,

Skipper Jakhongir Rakhmanov and Naman Tanwar scored victories to place Odisha Warriors in the front. And after Simranjit Kaur pulled one back for the Brawlers, Youth Women’s 57kg National champion Jasmine and a brave Gaurav Solanki turned up the ante to make sure that the team from India’s east coast would go home a happy unit.

Jakhongir Rakhmanov overturned a sluggish start against Dinesh Dagar to gain a split verdict in the 69kg bout and give Odisha Warriors a winning start while Naman Tanwar beat back a spirited challenge by Reyal Puri in the 91kg bout as Odisha Warriors showed how eager they were to leave behind memories of losses to Punjab Panthers and Gujarat Giants.

Clearly under pressure after the first two bouts in the seven-bout match, Bengaluru Brawlers heave a sigh of relief when Simranjit Kaur beat Priyanka Chaudhary in the women’s 60kg bout. Jasmine expectedly beat National Youth bronze medallist Priti Banekar, cruising to a unanimous points decision to leave Odisha Warriors needing one more win.

Bengaluru Brawlers were hoping that Gaurav Bidhuri would find the winning sequence against Gaurav Solanki in the high-intensity 57kg bout, but those expectations were belied. Solanki strained his every sinew in a quality clash, showing enormous mental strength in bouncing back from a 2-3 loss to Mohammed Husamuddin two nights ago and in keeping Bidhuri at bay.

Deepak returning to the Odisha Warriors line-up after missing the clash with Gujarat Giants beat Ashish Insah in a unanimous verdict in the 52kg bout. That gave Odisha Warriors a fifth win for the night, one more than the squad had managed from the two earlier matches put together.

Debutant Pramod Kumar, replacing Neel Kamal Singh in the line-up, secured the judges’ nod in the 75kg fight with teenager Nitin Kumar to let the Odisha Warriors’ cup of joy overflow on Saturday. Bengaluru Brawlers were without ace Pinki Rani Jangra, away on National duty in the South Asian Games, but Odisha Warriors chose to block the women’s 51kg bout.

The Big Bout Indian Boxing League,approved by the Boxing Federation of India (BFI), is a unique three-week team competition for top Indian and international boxers in which six 14-member squads are competing for Rs. 3 crore prize money.

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