Sunil Kumar bites dust; Vijender through to SF in sr natl boxing

New Delhi, Aug 28 (UNI) Commonwealth champion Sunil Kumar of Haryana bite the dust as he was outpunched by defending champion HK Belwal of Services in the flyweight category in the 54th Senior Men National Boxing championship here today.

Belwal won the 51kg quarter-final bout on points 47-28 in a fierce contest which saw both the pugilists trying to stamp authority over the other.

Sunil, who won gold in the Commonwealth Championship in Liverpool last month, was the initial aggressor but trailed all through the contest. He was 7-14 behind at the end of first round.

Sunil continued his aggressive self in the second round also with a flurry of punches but without score and seasoned Belwal responded by notching up points continuously while defending and the gap between the two kept on increasing.

Belwal was up 20-10 and 35-20 in the second and third rounds and emerged victorious in the final round at 48-27.

In middleweight (75kg) category, Doha Asian Games bronze medallist Vijender of Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) continued his devastating form, scoring an effortless victory over Kuldeep of Punjab to storm into the semi-finals.

In a totally one-sided qaurter-final bout, Vijender was leading 23-3 in the second round when the referee stopped the contest.

Vijender, who had won his earlier two round bouts on RSC verdict, will meet Ashok of Delhi who won a walk over when Gurdev of Arunachal Pradesh did not turn up.

In the 48kg category, World Cadet champion Balbir Singh of Railways and Asian Cadet champion Sanjay Kishan Kolte of Services booked their semi-final berths with easy victories.

Balbir outpunched Salman of Maharashtra 22-9 while Sanjay won an RSC verdict over K Chiranjivi of Andhra Pradesh when when he was leading 21-1 in the third round.

UNI