New Delhi: World Championships silver medallist Sonia Lather (57kg) and Mandeep Jangra were among the five Indian boxers to enter the finals, while four others, including Shiva Thapa (60kg), signed off Saturday with bronze medals in the Ulaanbaatar Cup in Mongolia.
Others who made the final along with Sonia and Mandeep were Lovlina Borgohain (69kg), Himanshu Sharma (49kg), and Muhammed Etash Khan (56kg). The three other boxers who won bronze medals were debutant Vanhmlimpuia (75kg), Ashish (64kg), and Bina Devi Koijam (48kg).
Shiva lost a closely-contested bout to home boxer Battumur Misheelt, Bina was out-punched by Korean Kim Kum Sun, Ashish lost to Mongolian Uranchmeg Munkh-Erdene while Vanhmlimpuia was beaten by Iran’s Mousavi Seyedshahin.
Sonia defeated Tiantian Zhao of China in a split decision. The Indian looked off-colour in the opening round. However, she staged a strong recovery in the second and third rounds to come out victorious.
Lovlina, in contrast, dominated from the start, taking advantage of her opponent Enkhbaatar Erdenetuya’s sluggish foot movements. The Indian punched at will to emerge a unanimous winner. The Assam-boxer will now square off against Chinese Taipei’s Nien Chen Chen in her summit clash.
In the men’s draw, Mandeep was up against local challenge Tsend-Ayush Otgon-Erdene. The Indian was way superior when it came to hitting impactful punches and was also helped by a warning to Otgon-Erdene for excessive bending.
In the evening session, Himanshu claimed a scrappy 3-2 win over Thailand’s Samaek Saehan in the semifinal. He will next fight Iran’s Omid Ahmadisafa for the gold.
Etash, in contrast, ensured that the judges had no doubt in awarding the bout to him against Mongolian Tsgaanbaatar Munkhbaatar. Kazakhstan’s Baltiyev Abdukhaul awaits him in the summit clash Sunday.
