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SPORTS
Eternal India
encyclopedia
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
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