Source: Hueiyen News Service / New Delhi
Imphal, October 13 2010:
Mayengbam Suranjoy kept India's colours flying high with a rousing victory on a disappointing day for the host country at the boxing competitions of the Commonwealth Games on Monday.
Suranjoy in 52 kg, Manoj Kumar in 64 kg and Paramjeet Samota in plus-91 kg were the three Indians to enter the finals.
Among those who lost their semifinal bouts were Amandeep Singh who lost to Paddy Barnes (Northern Ireland) in 49 kg, Jai Bhagwan who lost to Tom Stalker (England) in 60 kg, and Dilbag Singh who lost to Pat Gallagher (Northern Ireland) in 69 kg.
However, the losers will all get bronze medals.
But the biggest disappointment of the day was the loss of Olympic and World championship bronze medallist Vijender Singh to his English opponent Anthony Ogogo in the 75 kg class semifinal.
After scoring a spectacular knock out on Saturday, Vijender was up against a tough opponent and adopted a more cautious approach.
The English boxer had a very sound defence and Vijender found it difficult to score points.
After two rounds Vijender was leading only 1-0.In the third round Vijender went ahead 3-0.But at this stage he was penalised twice.
The first time the referee penalised him for punching Ogogo behind the head.
Ogogo was awarded two points for Vijender's foul.
Within a few seconds the referee penalised Vijender again, this time for pushing Ogogo down to the canvas.
This gave Ogogo two more points and he went ahead 4-3 and within a few more seconds the bout ended.
Vijender was visibly disappointed while Ogogo was thrilled to have beaten a higher-ranked boxer.
The Indian team lodged a protest against the decision to penalise Vijender but it was turned down.
But the best Indian performance of the day came from Suranjoy Singh in the 52 kg semi final.
The gutsy Manipuri displayed his tremendous skill and punching power as he smashed his way to a 9-3 win over highly-rated Pakistani boxer Haroon Iqbal.
Despite being the shorter of the two, Suranjoy was always on the attack, never allowing his rival to get breathing space.
It was a typically aggressive performance by this diminutive boxer who is called "Chhota Tyson" by his team mates because of the similarities between his style and that of former world champion Mike Tyson.