Devendro, Manoj advance with contrasting wins at boxing nationals

The Commonwealth Games medallist duo of Laishram Devendro Singh and Manoj Kumar notched up contrasting wins in their new weight categories to advance on the second day of the senior men’s national championship here on Friday. The second day at the nationals turned out to be much more organised and disciplined than the first day with more that 100 bouts being held during the day. Manipur’s Devendro overcame some anxious moments to beat lesser known Bhoj Raj of Uttar Pradesh 3-2 in his maiden attempt at the Flyweight (52 kilogram) category. The 24-year-year-old Asian Championships and Commonwealth Games silver medallist started on a shaky note but soon picked up the momentum in the second and third rounds to get a split 3-2 verdict in his favour. The celebrated Devendro, who so far used to ply his trade in the Light Flyweight category (49 kg) reasoned that his decision to move up to a higher weight category was due to injuries and better hand-eye co-ordination. “Light fly was not difficult to maintain, I could bring it down when I wanted but it was leading to injuries and it was also affecting my hand-eye coordination,” Devendro said after his exhausting bout at the Sarusajai indoor Stadium here. “I had been competing in light-flyweight since 2007 and I thought this was the time to change.”