India pugilists had a good day with four out of five boxers on Thursday entering the semifinals of their respective categories.
India’s Lovlina Borgohain beat sixth seed Karolina Koszewska of Poland to enter the semifinals of women’s welterweight (64-69kg) category, thus assuring India its fourth medal of the World Women’s Boxing Championships on Thursday being held in Russia.
Borgohain started off the blocks in an aggressive manner landing a couple of body shots against her Polish opponents before settling down and keeping her distance. The start of the second round was also similar but Koszewska too got on the offensive when the opportunity presented and took the round to even the playing field. However, Borgohain came back strong in the third round to keep her advantage intact and won the bout 4:1.
With that, India pugilists had a good day with four out of five boxers on Thursday entering the semifinals of their respective categories.
While the day started with six-time champion MC Mary Kom assuring herelf a record 8th medal with a 5-0 win over Rio Olympics bronze medalist Ingrit Valencia Victor of Colombia in the morning in the flyweight category (48-51kg), the momentum was carried forwarded by the likes of Manju Rani – who stunned top seed Kim Hyang Mi of North Korea to make it to the semi-finals in 48kg division and Jamuna Boro.
Sixth-seeded Rani, playing her first World Championships, defeated top seed Kim Hyang Mi of North Korea by a 4-1 verdict in their last-eight match. Kim had won bronze in the 2018 edition of the world championships that was held in New Delhi. The judges’ points at the end of the quarter-final bout stood 29-28, 30-27, 29-28, 28-29, 29-28 in Rani’s favour.
Debutant at the Worlds Boro then added India’s third medal beating Ursula Gottlob of Germany 4:1 in the 51kg quarter-final bout.
However, there was disappointment for Kavita Chahal who lost her quarterfinal bout to Belarus’ Katsiaryna Kavaleva 1:4 in the +81 kg weight category.
