Riding on a lethal left, Craig Archibald Watson of Le Martiniere, Kolkata, edged C Prajval of Eastwood High School to take the 34-36 kg category title (11-12 age group) in the fourth Charles and Florence Eastwood all-India ICSE/ CBSE boxing tournament here on Wednesday.
In the opening round, local favourite Prajval hardly broke a sweat while bagging points with a number of flashy charges and the stage seemed set for another gold for the home team.
The second round too opened with Prajval leading with a few rights and it seemed to be a cakewalk for the Bangalore pugilist.
Craig then brought cheers to the Kolkata camp at the end of the second session by landing a left which drew applause from the spectators and the shock weapon took Prajval by surprise.
Taking cue from that, Craig banked on the left regularly in the final round and the ploy yielded success. The deft hands of Craig proved too hot for Prajval, who tried his best, throwing  some punches nearing the end. But it was too late as Craig signed off with a memorable 21-18 victory to clinch the gold.
In the girls’ section, Eastwood’s Monisha overcame some anxious moments against school-mate Hamsalekha to emerge winner in 48-50 kg event (14-15 age group).
In the closest bout of the day, Monisha started off aggressively. After a dominating first round, the script turned awfully wrong for Monisha in the next as Hamsalekha literally brought her rival to the knees.
The third round was the most competitive as both vied hard for points but Monisha had the last laugh as judges announced a two-point win.
Overall title
Eastwood High School won the overall championship among ICSE schools while Chennai School bagged the same honour in the CBSE category.
Results: All finals:
Boys: Category A (15-16 years): 60-63 kg: Rahul Kumar (Phoenix School, Belgaum) bt V Vivek (Eastwood HS, Bangalore); 57-60 kg: S Prem Kumar (Tambaram School) bt Anand K (Bapuji School, Tumkur); 54-57 kg: K Ajay (Eastwood) bt Pritam (Bangalore Military School); 52-54 kg: J Loga Raj (Chennai School) bt Akash Kodde (Phoenix School); 48-50 kg: Dilip Yadav (Eastwood) bt Donald Linus (La Martiniere Boys, Kolkata).
Category B (14-15 years): 44-46 kg: J J Jeromiah (Eastwood) bt Ajay Kumar (Bangalore Military School). Category C (13-14 years): 42-44 kg: Praveen Kumar (CM School, Bangalore) bt Chrys D’Souza (Phoenix School).
Category D (12-13 years): 40-42 kg: Ashok (Chennai School) bt Madu Sudhan B (Chethna Vidya Mandir HS, Tumkur); 38-40 kg: R J Naveen (Eastwood) bt Vanlal Rindhana (La Martiere). Category E (11-12 years): 34-36 kg: Craig Archibald Watson (La Martienere) bt C Prajval (Eastwood).
Girls: Category B (14-15 years): 44-48 kg: U Druthi (Eastwood) bt Likhitha (Eastwood); 46-48 kg: Nandini (Eastwood) bt Sree Vidhya (Eastwood); 48-50 kg: Hamsalekha (Eastwood) bt Monisha (Eastwood).
Overall champions: Eastwood High School, Bangalore (ICSE); Chennai School (CBSE).
Best boxer: V Satishwaran (Eastwood, ICSE); Raj Bharath (Chennai School, CBSE).
Best scientific boxer: Craig Archibald Watson (Le Martiniere, ICSE): J Balaji (Chennai School, CBSE).