Talented boxer Karan Vats continued his impressive run, entering the 40kg quarterfinals with a dominant win over Punjab’s Prabhakar Kalyan in the first-ever Sub Junior Boys’ Boxing Nationals here Friday.
The Delhi boy, a silver medallist at the School Nationals last year, notched up a 5-0 win over Prabhakar, underlining why he is one of the top future prospects in the Khelo India Scheme.
Delhi also had a winner in Rudra in 35kg where he edged Haryana’s Vishesh 3-2 in a tight bout.
In 43kg, Delhi boy Deepanshu faced some early resistance but managed to overcome Pankaj Singh Bhandari for a 4-1 victory.
Statemate Priyanshu Dedha also continued his sizzling run in the 46kg category, notching up a flawless 5-0 win over Jharkhand’s Rohit Kumar Yadav.
Local hope Divansh Shukla from Haryana was once again brilliant and was declared a winner by RSC in Round 3 over Meghalaya’s Pratik Boral in 40kg.
In 43kg, Akshat of Haryana pulled off a 5-0 win over Arunachal boxer Ado Ito. Punjab’s Nikhil proved too strong for Bengal’s Aman Das in his 5-0 victory in 46kg.
Goa too had winners in Laxman Toralkar (35kg) and Rupesh Bind (43kg) while Andhra Pradesh was represented in the winners’ column by Yerransetty Harivarhan (70+ kg) and Ranjana Rohith (46kg).
Uttar Pradesh’s Gulfham also made it to the quarters in 35kg, joining Maharashtra’s Vedantbengle (40kg) and Gopal Katta (37kg).
The latter put up a supremely confident performance against Neeraj of Jharkhand that resulted in a 5-0 win in Katta’s favour.
Assam, a powerhouse of boxing, was led into the last-eight by Ohidur Rahman, who defeated Piyush Barman of Bengal 4-1 in 35kg.
Bengal got a win through Anshu Routh in 40kg where he beat Himachal’s Rishav Thakur 4-1.
33 teams and 326 boxers have participated in this seven-day tournament that will pick out the best of India’s rising boys pugilists with the grand finale taking place on 8 July.