Birthday boy Madan Lal stunned World championship bronze medallist Gaurav Bidhuri to retain his 56kg title in style on the concluding day of the National boxing championships at the Army Sports Institute here on Friday.
All eight Services boxers, who were in the finals, won their respective bouts as the host lifted the team championship.
Madan, the 27-year-old from Services, once again delivered his best to underline his consistency. With an eye swollen due to an injury early in the first round, Madan boxed from a distance and executed rapid punches on Bidhuri.
The latter answered Madan’s aggression with some fine head shots, but could not prevent him from walking away with a 4-1 victory.
“I had planned to maintain some distance and did it successfully,” said Madan.
The Railways boxer had the consolation of being named the ‘Best Loser.’
In one of the best bouts of the day, Ananta Chopade lost his 52kg title clash with Services’ P.L. Prasad but won lots of hearts due to his exceptional showing.
Chopade, a bronze medallist in 2016, used his tight guard well to deny Prasad any early advantage. The Maharashtra boy raised his game to showcase his ring-craft and hit the target from long range.
Prasad worked like a machine to throw punches all over his rival.
Chopade cried inconsolably after getting a 3-2 decision against him. The onlookers, including Prasad, appreciated the Akola lad’s effort.
Young Deepak Bhoria relied on his compact game to get the better of an equally good opponent, Himanshu Sharma, 5-0. Apart from picking up his maiden National title, Deepak won the ‘Best Boxer’ award.
Manish Kaushik beat Ankush Dahiya, who injured his left hand in the bout, to take the 69kg gold medal. Manish was chosen the ‘Best Promising Boxer.’
The results: Finals: 49kg: Deepak (SSCB) bt Himanshu Sharma (Pun) 5-0; 52kg: P.L. Prasad (SSCB) bt Ananta Chopade (Mah) 3-2; 56kg: Madan Lal (SSCB) bt Gaurav Bidhuri (RSPB) 4-1; 60kg: Manish Kaushik (SSCB) bt Ankush Dahiya (RSPB) 5-0; 64kg: Rohit Tokas (RSPB) bt Abhishek Yadav (UP) 5-0; 69kg: Duryodhan Singh Negi (SSCB) bt Dinesh Dagar (RSPB) 5-0; 75kg: Manjeet Singh (SSCB) bt Prayag Chauhan (RSPB) 4-1; 81kg: Manish Panwar (RSPB) bt Brijesh Yadav (Raj) 4-0; 91kg: Sanjeet (SSCB) bt Praveen Kumar (Har) 5-0; +91kg: Satish Kumar (SSCB) bt Jasveer Singh (RSPB) 5-0.