Indian boxers on a roll, three more enter semis

Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam), November 6
India assured themselves of three more medals as Sarita Devi (64kg), Sonia Lather (57kg) and Lovlina Borgohain (69kg) advanced to the semifinals of the women’s Asian Boxing Championships here today. Sarita, a former world champion who’s eyeing her sixth medal at the Asian meet, defeated Maftunakhon Melieva of Uzbekistan, while Sonia edged past Kazakhstan’s Nazym Ichshanova. Lovlina defeated Erdenetuya Enkhbaatar of Mongolia by a unanimous decision.
Sarita, who returned to the amateur fold after trying her luck in the professional circuit earlier this year, took advantage of her opponent’s reluctance to attack and connected some lusty right hooks early in the first round. Early in the second round, Maftunakhon got a standing eight count after a flurry of punches from the Indian left her dazed. The Uzbek got her act together in the final round but Sarita showed fine footwork to dodge her punches.
Sonia, on the other hand, had to stave off a stiff challenge from Nazym. She won by a split verdict to enter the semis, and assure herself of a second medal in the Asian Championships.
An aggressive Sonia, throwing ferocious punches, pushed the Kazakh onto the backfoot early on. Although Nazym fought back well, the Indian managed to get the split verdict in her favour.
Earlier, India faced some disappointment when Nation’s Cup gold medallist Neeraj (51kg) went down in a unanimous verdict to Chinese Taipei’s Chol Mi Pang in the quarterfinals. The Haryana boxer appeared off-colour, with only her right hook coming off well occasionally. That was not enough to beat a resolute rival, who gave tough time to the Indian on counterattacks.
Olympics medallist MC Mary Kom (48kg), Priyanka Choudhary (60kg) and Shiksha (54kg) had advanced to the semifinals on Saturday.