Khalakhov, Prasad give Punjab Panthers head start against Bombay Bullets

Punjab Panthers' Abdulmalik Khalakov and PL Prasad won their respective bouts to give their team a head start against Bombay Bullets in its quest for a second successive victory in the Big Bout Indian Boxing League at the Gautam Buddha University Indoor Stadium here on Thursday.

Youth Olympic Games champion Khalakov held sway in the 57kg bout against Asian silver medallist Kavinder Singh Bisht. He established supremacy quickly in the first round.

The 19-year-old landed a left straight smack on the Bombay Bullets boxer's face to impose a standing count in the second round to seal the deal.

Prasad, who had lost his bout in the team's opening clash against Odisha Warriors, redeemed himself with an impressive performance against Anant Chopade. The confident manner in which he used his speed to counter his rival's longer reach showed that he had bounced back from the reverse suffered on the opening night.

Bombay Bullets captain, Olympic champion Ingrid Lorena, was left hoping that her team-mates Melissa Neomi (women's 60kg) and Naveen Boora (69kg) would stop Manisha and Manoj Kumar from running away with the match for Punjab Panthers.

Ingrid Lorena was drawn to play the fifth bout of the evening against home favourite Mary Kom.

Mary Kom, the Punjab Panthers captain, won the toss and blocked the youth women's 57kg bout. Sapna Sharma was one of the two Punjab Panthers boxers who had lost their bouts against Odisha Warriors on the opening night.

Sapna would have had to fight National Youth runner-up Priya Kushwaha. The option of blocking a bout allows teams to bring strategy into play.

On Wednesday night, Gujarat Giants had produced a commanding show to inflict Odisha Warriors a 5-2 defeat. Sarita Devi, Mohammed Husamuddin, Amit Pangal and Rajesh Narwal followed Ashish Kumar in winning their bouts on either side of the consolation victories posted by Jekhangir Rakhmanov and Naman Tanwar for Odisha Warriors.