West Zone youth boxing championship got off to a resounding start at Peddem-Mapusa on Wednesday. Teams from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Daman & Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Lakshawadeep and hosts are participating in the two-day tournament.
PANAJI
As expected, it was a rather good start for Goa, with boxers A K Roshan beating Ashwin Chawhan from Gujarat in the 49kg weight category, Salim Hussain Wusoor beat Rahul Rajput of Gujarat in the 52kg weight category. Abu Talib, who first won his quarter-final bout in the 60kg weight category, went down fighting to Kailas Jadhav from Maharashtra in the semi-finals. It was, however, disappointing to see national camper Ashok Patil from Goa lose to Rohit Chavan from Maharashtra in the 56kg weight category. The best bout of the evening was between Yuvraj Lotlikar of Goa who won a very close contest with Daman and Diu's Jitendra in the 64kg weight category, on points.
Two Goan girls won their semi-final bouts, thus moving into the finals and being assured of a silver medal. Nishila Parsekar won against Sipai Alfiya from Gujarat in the 57kg weight category. And Rinky Dabholkar won against Sonali Pawar from Dadra and Nagar Haveli, in the 48kg weight category. "Such a competition will help them understand the quality of boxing in the country and gain in confidence. This will help us focus on boxers who can get us medals for the National Games," said GBA secretary Danuska Da Gama.
