36th National Games: Assam’s Jamuna Boro, Ankushita Boro dominates ring, cruise to semifinals

Reigning national champion Sumit Kundu, former world championship medalist Jamuna Boro and Asian champion Sanjeet cruised to the semifinals of their respective weight divisions at the 36th National Games on October 10.

Notably, Assam girls Jamuna Boro and Ankushita Boro registered dominating victories to confirm their respective semifinal berths. Up against Rajasthan’s lesser-known Sapna Sharma in the opening bout of the day, Jamuna’s technical superiority gave her a clear edge in all three rounds in the 57kg featherweight category.

Battling a high fever for the past three days, Jamuna, however, did not show any signs of fatigue in the ring and got her combination punches to great effect to register a clear 5-0 win. “She has been unwell for the last couple of days, down with a high fever, but mentally very strong. Despite ill health, she has been training every day to make her maiden National Games campaign a memorable one,” said the manager of the Assam boxing contingent.

Jamuna will next face Haryana’s Poonam, who defeated Manipur’s Samim Band Khulakpham by a split decision 4-1 in another 57kg quarterfinal.

A few minutes later, Ankushita Boro breathed fire against Gujarat’s Paramjit Kaur, who was left searching for cover against the former World Youth champion from Assam. Up against a vociferous crowd cheering for the home girl, Ankushita rose to the occasion with an excellent array of shots to unsettle Kaur, who got as many as three standing counts before the referees decided to stop the contest in the second round in the 66kg category.

“I wanted to go all out in today’s bout as I watched Paramjit during her pre-quarterfinal bout. There was home support for her but it didn’t matter to me in the ring, I wanted to give myself a clear win to motivate myself ahead of the semifinal. I’m very happy to confirm another medal for Assam in my first National Games,” she said.

In the semifinal, Ankushita will take on Rajasthan’s Lalita, against whom she enjoys a dominating 3-0 advantage in head-to-head count. “I recently defeated Lalita in the semifinal of the Asian Championship trials in September. I got the better of her on two more occasions, so I know her game pretty well. I am confident of giving my 200 percent,” she said.

Representing the Services, Sumit, a quarterfinalist at the world championships, opened up in style against Haryana’s Ankit Khatana, who miserably failed to connect his punches. Sumit managed to breach through the defences of the South Asian Games gold medallist across the three rounds before eventually pocketing the men’s 75kg middleweight category bout by a unanimous verdict win at the Mahatma Mandir complex here.

Sumit will now be up against Maharashtra’s Nikhil Dubey for a place in the final. Nikhil outclassed Delhi boy Buntee Singh 5-0 in a lop-sided quarterfinal bout.

In the 92kg heavyweight category, Sanjeet used his long arms to great effect against the shorter Delhi opponent Harsh Kaushik, who braved two standing counts of eight in the second round. In the third round, Sanjeet got his headshots on target even as Harsh received another standing count to eventually lose the bout by RSC.

Among the men, Haryana’s Naveen Kumar registered a commanding RSC win over UP’s Harish Yadav in the 92kg heavyweight category bout, while in the 75kg middleweight category, Mizoram’s Malsawmitluanga recorded a stunning 5-0 unanimous verdict win over Uttarakhand’s Pankaj Kumar. In the same category, Goa’s Puspender Rathee defeated UP’s Gagandeep 5-0, to set up a semifinal clash with the Mizo pugilist.

In men’s 80kg light heavyweight division, Services boxer Sachin Kumar came up with a clinical 5-0 win over Punjab’s Kartik, and book his last-four berth against Rajasthan’s Sumit Poonia. Chandigarh’s Harpreet handed Arunachal Pradesh’s Tacho Jomoh a 5-0 thrashing. He will take on Haryana’s Vinit in the semifinal bout.

Among others, Punjab’s Kanwarpreet Singh (92kg), Rajasthan’s Neeraj Kumar (92kg), Services’ Narender (+92kg), Haryana’s Mohit (+92kg), Maharashtra’s Reynold Joseph (+92kg) and Chandigarh’s Sawan Gill (+92kg) confirmed their places in the last four stages.