Haryana Warriors stumble on last hurdle

Tribune News Service 

Chandigarh, August 13 

Haryana Warriors lost 10-9 to Maratha Yoddhas in a nail-biting Super Boxing League final at the Siri Fort Squash and Badminton Stadium in New Delhi late last evening.

Maratha Yoddhas started the final fight night on the front-foot as they won the first two bouts through Sandeep Singh and Andy Chuaua to give their team a 6-0 lead.

Haryana Warriors, however, bounced back after Suman Kumari, Sandeep Nain and Sukhdeep Singh won their respective bouts to take a 9-6 lead after five bouts.

The turning point of the match was in the last bout when Sandeep Chhikara won by a technical knock out to clinch the league for Maratha Yoddhas.

The first bout of the night was between debutant Sandeep Singh from Maratha Yoddhas and Warriors’ Naveen Nehra in the feather weight category.

Sandeep Singh hit some great moves and combinations on Nehra to steal the victory by unanimous decision and gave his side a 3-0 lead.

In the second bout, it was up to Haryana’s Parmod Kumar to cut down the lead for his team as he faced Andy Chuaua from the Maratha Yoddhas in the Welter Weight category.

However, the Warriors’ man could not succeed as Chuaua was awarded victory by split decision after four rounds. It meant that the Maratha Yoddhas extended their lead to 6 points.

In the third bout of the night, Warriors’ Suman Kumari faced Maratha Yoddhas’ Lalnunfeli in the super fly category. The latter started the match aggressively but Kumari kept her composure to make a comeback in the last two rounds to help her side open their account.

In the fourth bout, it was Sandeep Nain of Warriors, who caused an upset when he beat Yoddhas’ skipper Deepak Tanwar in the middle weight category. Coming into the match, Tanwar had won all his four bouts in the inaugural league, but it was Nain who produced the miraculous victory to help Warriors draw parity after four bouts.

Haryana Warriors’ Sukhdeep Singh then humbled Yoddhas’ Vivek Jangra in a super middle weight category bout to help the side take a 9-6 lead.  

Just like in the semifinal, Yoddhas’ Sandeep Chhikara was assigned with the difficult task of getting a victory in the last bout against Jagdeep Singh of the Haryana Warriors in the heavy weight category.

Chhikara started aggressively in the first round and took down Singh at least four times.

Chhikara showed his power again as he took down Singh for one final time as referee stopped the match and decided to award Chhikara with a technical knock out victory.

It meant that the Maratha Yoddhas won the match 10-9 to steal the Super Boxing League trophy.