Finance
Lovlina Borgohain, a bronze medalist at the Tokyo Olympics, and Sakshi Choudhary, a bronze medalist at the 2021 Asian Championships, both won convincing victories to advance to the quarterfinals of the Mahindra IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships on Monday at the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex.
Lovlina lived up to her name by unleashing her attacking prowess on her opponent Vanessa Ortiz of Mexico before registering a commanding 5-0 victory in the 75kg Round-of-16 match. The Assam-born pugilist, who has two World Championship bronze medals to her name, dominated the fight from the start, landing powerful uppercuts and hooks.
With persistent attacks and smart footwork, the 25-year-old carried her brilliant momentum into the next round, leaving her Mexican opponent speechless. Finally, Lovlina emerged victorious in the thoroughly one-sided contest to kickstart her campaign with an effortless victory.
“The opponent (Vanessa) was short in height and was attacking aggressively which is difficult to contain so I planned to attack by keeping a distance. I am not that happy with my performance today as I think I could have done much better and I will definitely improve in my next bout. As this is my first World Championships in the 75kg category, it is a bit tough as all other boxers have been playing in this category since before but I believe that I can do well,” Lovlina said after the match.
In the next round, she will face top seed and last World Championship bronze medalist Rady Gramane of Mozambique.
Earlier, in the 52kg category pre-quarterfinal, India’s dynamic 23-year-old boxer Sakshi hardly put a foot wrong in a commanding 5-0 win over Kazakhstan’s 2022 Asian Championships bronze medalist Zhazira Urakbayeva.
The Haryana-born pugilist appeared to be in complete control from the start, landing relentless punches with both hands and winning the first round.
The two-time World Youth champion continued to dominate her Kazakh opponent in the following two rounds, using quick movement and a smart attacking strategy to win by unanimous decision.
“The boxer from Kazakhstan (Urakbayeva) was tough, so I thought that the fight scores may go up or down but after following the strategy of the coaches and BFI, I could play well and could further dominate the bout to win by 5-0. Moreover, the people that have come to cheer further motivated me to win. My confidence is growing as the bouts progress so through the vigour and passion that I currently possess, I am definitely focused on clinching the gold,” Sakshi commented after the match.
The Indian will now face Wu Yu of China in the quarterfinals.
Meanwhile, Preeti (54kg) was defeated 3-4 after the bout was reviewed against Thailand’s Jitpong Jutamas, who won silver at the World Championships last year. The 19-year-old Indian fought valiantly but, despite her best efforts, she was unable to repeat her previous victory over Romania’s top-seed Perijoc Lacramiora.
Li Qian of China, a two-time Olympic medalist, and Elif Guneri of Turkey, a five-time World Championships medalist, both won in the 75kg category. While Qian won the first round with a Referee Stops the Contest (RSC) decision over Chinese Taipei’s Lin Chien-Yu, Guneri had to fight hard before securing a close 4-1 victory against Viviane Pereira of Brazil.
Six Indians, including the reigning world champion Nikhat Zareen (50kg), Nitu Ghanghas (48kg), Manisha Moun (57kg), Jaismine Lamboriya (60kg), Shashi Chopra (63kg) and Manju Bamboriya (66kg), will compete in the pre-quarterfinals on Tuesday.
Olympics medallists Irma Testa (57kg) from Italy, Nesthy Petecio (57kg) from Philippines, Estelle Mossely (60kg) from France and Brazil’s Beatriz Iasmim Ferreira (60kg) will also be in action.
The ongoing prestigious event features 324 boxers from 65 countries, including several Olympic medalists, competing for titles in 12 weight categories. The prize pool for the tournament is INR 20 crore.
Source:OCN
