Commonwealth champion Sunil pummelled his BSF opponent Naorem Angao in a lop-sided bout to storm into the second round of the 55th senior National men’s boxing championship which got under way here on Saturday.

The Haryanalad outclassed Angao in the third round of his opening bout of the flyweight category, the referee stopped the contest.

Sunil was aggression personified as he took control of the proceedings with some hard blows.

He relied on counter-punching even as he kept his guard perilously low against an over-cautious opponent. The strategy worked Sunil as an over defensive Angao was left exhausted by the second round itself.

Earlier, the competition kicked off with Olympic bronze medallist Vijender Singh and quarterfinalist Jitender Kumar, accompanied by national coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu, taking a lap of honour in an open jeep around a packed stadium.

Vijender was handed a cash reward of Rs 11 lakh, while Jitender and Sandhu were given Rs 5 lakh each.

Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh’s M Nasir Qurashi sailed past Himachal Pradesh’s Sunny in the light flyweight category.
In the other 48kg opener, Himanshu Shahu (SPSB) defeated Meghalaya's Krishna Barua 13-8.

In flyweight, UP’s Abhishek Shah outpunched Rajasthan’s Amit Bisht 25-4. In bantamweight, local boy Kulwinder Singh defeated Rahul Singh 14-11.