Haryana bag eight gold, Maharashtra's Devika declared best boxer at sub junior meet

Haryana proved their superiority as eight of their pugilists bagged gold medals even as Devika Ghorpade of Maharashtra was adjudged the best boxer in the first Sub-Junior National Boxing Championships, which concluded here Friday.

Though Haryana did well to take eight gold, Tamil Nadu's M Loshini Mangesh beat Nisha Singh, a Haryana boxer, on points (5:0).

The other four gold medal winners included two from Manipur, one from Uttarakhand and one from Andhra Pradesh.

Mushkan Singh started the proceedings for Haryana in 34 kg class, winning her final against Punjab's Bhavna Ajay Kumar 4:1 but in the next bout in 36 kg, Nisha, taking on the Tamil Nadu girl, could not continue the winning trend for Haryana as Loshini was very consistent with her punching that earned her full points from the judges.

Undeterred, the Haryana girls reversed the trend in the 40, 42, 44, 50, 52, 57 and 63 kg categories, beating their rivals to add to Mushkan's gold. Prachi Kinha (40 kg) Prachi(42Kg) Tamanna Kumar (44 kg); Kushi Avtar (50kg) Aanchal Saini (52Kg) Priti Dahiya (57kg) and Pranjal Yadav (63) all made it to the top of the podium.

Aanchal Saini who beat Delhi's Yamini Tanwar in 52 kg 4:1 from Haryana, won the Best Promising Boxer award.