Eternal India Encyclopedia

Eternal India encyclopedia

SPORTS

invented the padded gloves called as muffers, which were mostly used during practice. Broughton also devised a set of rules, which were followed till the Marquis of Queensberry Rules were adopted. To the Marquis of Queensberry also goes the credit of revolution- ising boxing from a low brow sport to an aristocratic game. Jem Mace then popularised the game in South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and America. Jem Mace also discovered many boxing greats like Bob Filzzimmon (popularly known as Ruby Roberts), who has the distinction of winning world titles under the middle- weight, light heavy weight and heavy weight categories. This record still remains unsurpassed. The moment amateur boxing became popular in British Public Schools, an Indian Paresh Lai Roy came into the limelight. P.L. Roy joined the St. Paul’s Preparatory School, then famous for boxing, and went on to represent Cambridge University in 1914. He earned the distinction of becoming the first Indian to win a Cambridge Blue. Boxing came to India via the British Army and some of the then prominent boxers like Gunner Moir, R.G.A. Bombardin and Bill Webbs began their boxing careers in India. Moir and Webbs later went on to become British Heavy Weight champions. Though native Indians did not show much keenness towards the sport, many Anglo Indians soon took to the game and their ef- forts received further impetus with James Knox becoming the Superintendent of Licensed Measures. He encouraged the Anglo Indians to take to the sport and thus the Measures Athletic Club became a leading institution for the promotion of professional boxers. Some of the leading boxers included Kid D’Silva, Henry O’Dricoll, Charlie Duff, Dennis Barbara, Clausy Neil, Robin Neil, Milton Kubes, Edgar Bright, Kateri, Soares brothers, Frank Me- lina, Louis, Gunboat Jack and Young Tully. The end of the British rule also saw the end of professional boxing in India. But, amateur boxing took root with the formation of the All India Boxing Federation at a meeting of the provincial rep- resentatives in Calcutta on May 13, 1948. A.K. Sen was elected as president and P.C. Misra as secretary. However, Bombay can be called the home of Indian Amateur boxing. The Bombay Presidency Amateur Boxing Federation (BPABF) was formed in 1925 with direct affiliation to the Amateur Boxing Association of England. The Bombay Presidency Amateur Boxing Federation played a major role in promoting the sport throughout the country, before the formation of the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation, which was founded at the behest of the International Olympic Committee. The BPABF became the Bombay Amateur Boxing Federation in 1951 and was subsequently renamed as the Maharashtra Amateur Boxing Association in 1961. The dominance and prominence of Bombay in the early years of Indian amateur boxing can be gauged from the fact that most of the early office-bearers of the IABF belonged to that city, which was the nucleus of Indian amateur boxing. The first National Amateur Boxing Championship was held in the Brabourne Stadium, Bombay on March 18, 1950 and A. Thomas of Maharashtra was crowned as the first national champion. Boxing bouts are now held under the following categories : light flyweight (not exceeding 45 kgs); flyweight (over 48 kgs, but not exceeding 51 kgs); bantam weight (51 to 54); feather weight (54 to 57); light weight (57 to 60); light welter weight (60 to 63.5); welter weight (63.5 to 67); light middle weight (67 to 71); middle weight

some of the other prominent body builders of India. Manohar Aich, who finished second in the 1951 world championship, claimed the gold in the next year followed by bronze medals in 1955 and 1960. Premchand Dogra, who has the distinction of winning five Mr. Asia titles in-a-row, won the Mr. Universe title under the weight cate- gory body building championship in 1988 at Brisbane after having finished second in the 1986 meet. Raymond D'Souza, who claimed a silver in the 1987 Asian meet, won the Mr. Natural International title in the 1990 height category body building contest at Japan. Arjuna Awards: Moloy Roy, Sunil Kumar Patra and Premchand Dogra.

BOWLING

Bowling, also called ten pin bowling, is a game in which a ball is rolled down along a narrow lane toward a group of pins, the object being to knock down more pins than an oppo- nent. In its present recognisable form bowling

can be traced to the 13th Century in England. In India the game was played in the 19th century. Till 1947 there were nearly 100 clubs but they have dwindled since Independence. The Royal Calcutta Club (Bowling section) was started in 1887. The East India Singles Championship started in 1910 was for many years the only surviv- ing championship in India. It is still being conducted by the Bowling Federation of India and is one of the most prestigious of meets. The first All India singles and pairs championships were held in Cal- cutta in 1987. V. Dhawan won the singles while R.S. Bengani and G.R. Sharma won the pairs title. Jackie Lewis won the title in the inaugural edition of the ladies section of the All India Championship in 1988. The Indian team made its international debut in the Com- monwealth Games at Auckland, New Zealand in 1990. The team consisted of seven members. Singles V.S. Pai, Pairs B. Rampuria & V. Dhawan; fours: R. S. Bengani, G.R. Sharma, P.S. Bengani & S. Saigal.

BOXING

A sport of the Sumerians around 300 B.C., Pu- gilism otherwise known as the Art of Boxing be- came popular with Romans during 900 B.C. Ro- man contestants bound their hands with leather cestus and fought with each other. Sometimes they wore spikes on their hands and fought to the death. The Roman emperors, however, stopped this gory practice leading to the death of pugilism.

Realising that pugilism was the lesser of the two evils as compared to duelling to death with swords, Italian priest St. Bernadine re- vived boxing in the 13th century. But the game did not grow beyond St. Bernadine and had to wait till the 18th century before it could become a popular sport among the Britishers. Though Jem Mace is generally regarded as the father of modern boxing, two other Britishers also played a major role in the promotion of the game in England. James Figg, who became the first boxing champion, also promoted the game by opening a school where he taught a style which was a combination of wrestling and boxing. Jack Broughton then took up the mantle of promotion and