New Delhi: Maharashtra’s Nikhil Dubey along with Sumit Sangwan and Neeraj Swami to register victories on the opening day of the 5th Elite Men’s National Boxing Championships at the Inspire Institute of Sports in Bellary, Karnataka on Wednesday.

Haryana pugilist Sumit, notched up a comfortable win over Andhra Pradesh’s Harish Prasadula by unanimous margin in the 86kg opening round match.

Neeraj also put up an impressive show and made a winning start to his campaign in the prestigious tournament, which is making a comeback after a gap of one year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Representing Delhi, Neeraj completed a dominating 5-0 victory against Haryana’s Sagar in the 48kg category.

Punjab’s Rajpinder Singh outpunched his opponent Rahul Niltu from Himachal Pradesh to secure 5-0 win in 54 kg opening round bout.

Chhattisgarh’s Dinesh Kumar and Maharashtra's Nikhil won his first round against Gujarat’s Sejad Lilgar, Dinesh had to work hard against Bengal’s Abhishek Shaw during his close 3-2 win.

The gold medallists will book themselves a direct berth for the upcoming 2021 AIBA Elite Men’s World Boxing Championships which is scheduled in Belgrade, Serbia from October 24 to November 6. The first two finishers of each category will also earn themselves direct entries into the national coaching camp. The National Championships will be followed by selection trials, which will be played till September 24 to finalise the remaining two names to take part in the national camp from each category.