Abhilash of Eastwood High School, Bangalore, warded off the challenge from Jason Aaron of La Martiniere, Kolkata, to win the 44-46 kg category title (15-16 age group) in the fourth Charles and Florence all-India ICSE/CNSE inter-school boxing tournament here on Tuesday.
In an exciting bout, local lad Abhilash seized the initiative by landing a powerful right in the opening seconds and followed it with some fierce charges. The second round too was no different as Abhilash clearly had the advantage. But a defiant Aaron fought hard to stay in contention and earned some points at the end of the round.
As the bout moved into the final round, Aaron staged a valiant comeback to breach the so-far impressive defence of his rival with some fierce punches. It was very close in the end, but the judges nodded in favour of Abhilash who managed a wafer thin one-point (60-59) victory.
In the 36-38 kg event (12-13 years), Avdesh Kundtal of Bangalore Military School prevailed over Aatish Kumar Verma of La Martiniers, Kolkata.  Avdesh unsettled Aatish with a powerful punch early in the first round. Aatish continued the fight, but couldn’t impress much.
He turned the tables in the next round and floored his opponent once but Avdesh, who enjoyed better reach, was better placed at the end of the round. The final round confirmed this as he won hands down with a dominating display marked by fluent moves and terrific punches.
Out of the 10 finals on the day, three were knockout deals, all in favour of hosts Eastwood, as Dean Jones, R Navien and B Pramodh made short work of Anurag Hebrom (La Martiniere), Vedant (La Martiniere), and Vishva Jeet (Bangalore Military School) respectively.
Results:
Finals: Category A (15-16 years): 60-63 kg: B Pramodh (Eastwood, Bangalore) bt Vishva Jeet (Bangalore Military School); 57-60 kg: Farhan Zaki (La Martiniere, Kolkata) bt Sunit Vivek (Bangalore Military School); 50-52 kg: V Satishwaran (Eastwood) bt Dilkush Meena (Bangalore Military School); 46-48 kg: R Navien (Eastwood, Bangalore) bt Vedant (La Martiniere); 44-46 kg: Abhilash (Eastwood) bt Jason Aaron (La Martiniere).
Category B (14-15 years): 46-48 kg: Anjum Ekha (Bangalore Military School) bt B Kiran (Eastwood).
Category C (13-14 years): 38-40 kg:Naveen Dangi (Bangalore Military School) bt S Nishanth (Eastwood).
Category D (12-13 years): 36-38 kg: Avdesh Kundtal (Bangalore Military School) bt Aatish Kumar Verma (La Martiniere).
Category E (11-12 years): 40-42 kg: Dean Jones (Eastwood) bt Anurag Hembrom (La Martiniere); 36-38 kg: Geetesh (Eastwood) bt Ajay Kumar (Bangalore Military School).
Semifinal: Category B (14-15 years):  42-44 kg: Ajay Kumar (Bangalore Military School) bt Md Omar Khan (La Martiniere).