Dingko Singh marches into pre-quarters

Asian Games gold medallist N Dingko Singh of Services showed flashes of brilliance to enter the pre-quarter-finals in the five-day 48th Senior National boxing championship, which began in Delhi on Tuesday.

The inaugural day featured 97 of the 273 bouts of the tourney, which features 285 entries from 36 teams.

Led by the traditional rivals Services and Railways, this edition of the nationals also showcases clashes between pugulists from other top favourites like Punjab, All India Poilce and Haryana in the 12 categories from the 45 kg and above light-flyweight to 91 kg-plus super-heavyweight.

Though Services are the reigning champions, Railways, who were winners in the 1995 and 1997 editions at Jaipur and Haryana respectively are expected to give them a good fight considering the large crowd support they have in Delhi, being the hosts this time.

The boxers to watch out for, apart from Dingko Singh are the 1998 Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games silver medallist Jitender Kumar of Railways and Olympian Suresh Singh of CISF.

Dingko Singh, who was sidelined for nearly two years due to a hairline fracture of his wrist, made a winning return today against Ashok Subba of Sikkim.

Though Dingko Singh got off to a rusty start, he kept his opponent guessing by being magically evasive using his quick reflexes even as he made sure that he scored at regular intervals by pummelling straight punches. Dingko, who also floored Subba a couple of times with his powerful left hooks, ultimately triumphed 17-2.