APF lifts boxing title

KATHMANDU, Dec 17: Armed Police Force (APF) dominated the Third Nationwide Boxing Tournament winning 10 gold and two silver medals from the total 15 categories to lift team championship trophy.

On Saturday, the closing day of the five-day tournament, Bikram Pariyar of APF beat Resham Bahadur Shahi of Nepal Army in the first round of the men´s 49-kg final bout as referee stopped the contest (RSC) due to injury. In the 52-kg weight category, Puran Rai of APF registered a 6-5 victory over Narendra Desar of Nepal Youth Boxing Group.[break]

In 56-kg weight category, Kavindra Maharjan of APF added another gold defeating Dipendra Bakhuche of Nepal Army. Maharjan had earlier knocked out Jay Ram Kharbuja in semifinal. Suman Lama of Nepal Police registered win over Dipendra Shrestha of Makwanpur in the 60-kg final.

Bhupendra Thapa of Nepal Police beat Gopal Sunuwar of Nepal Army in the 64-kg weight category to win gold. Bhupendra Bista of APF registered a narrow margin win over fellow club-mate Sushil Ghimire scoring 8-7. Ghimire had won a silver medal in the 10th South Asian Games.

Devendra Maharjan knocked out Ghanshyam Buda of Nepal Army in the 75-kg weight category. The match lasted for just 2:20 minutes. In the 81-kg weight category, Ujjar Singh Thapa Magar overcame Min Prakash Jora of APF.

In the 91-kg weight category, Ganesh Ram Chaudhary of APF registered RSC injury win over Satish Rajbhandari in the first round. In the super heavy weight category, Shyam Khadka of Nepal Army beat Mahesh KC. KC retired in the third round as he got injured and was trailing by 12-4.

In the women´s 46-kg weight category, Diwana Sherma of Nepal Police beat Sarita Buda Magar of Salyan to win gold. Buda Magar retired in the second round due to injury. In the 48-kg weight category, Mala Rai of APF beat Sabitri Tamang of Palung 3-2.

In the 51-kg weight category, Maya Chaudhary of APF received a walkover from Sunita Maharjan of Bosigaun. Sanju Lama of APF thrashed Nisha Tamang of Nepal Police 15-4 in the 54-kg weight category. It was Lama´s third victory over Tamang in three meetings.

In the 57-kg weight category, Pramila Pandey of APF overcame Minas Rai of Nepal Police 9-2.

Kabindra Maharjan and Sanju Lama of APF were adjudged the best players of the tournament in the men´s and women´s categories respectively.

Winners of each category received Rs 5,000 while the runner-up received Rs 3,000 each. Likewise, all the semifinalists were awarded Rs 1,000.

Altogether 25 teams, including three departmental teams and 14 district teams, had participated in 10 weight categories in the men´s section and seven weight categories in the women´s section during the five-day tournament.