Punjab pugilists dominate Day 2 of 3rd women's nationals

The New Year started on a great note for young boxers from Chandigarh, Delhi and Punjab as they recorded the majority of the wins on the second day of the 3rd women's national boxing championships at the Inspire Institute of Sport (IIS) here on Tuesday.

The day began with a dominating performance by Delhi's Riya Tokas in the 54kg category as she landed a flurry of punches in the first round against her opponent, V.Vinodhini from Tamil Nadu.

Riya continued her attacking approach in the next two rounds and registered a unanimous 5-0 victory. She faces World Championship quarter-finalist Manisha Moun in the next round.

Sohini from Chandigarh was in sublime form, getting the better of Sai Sree Reddy from Telangana in the 69 kg category. She went on the offensive right from the start and landed some mighty blows, only for the referee to stop the bout in the first round.

The closest bout of the day was fought between Babita Bisht of Uttarakhand and Suman Khoda of Rajasthan in the 69kg category. Both the boxers kept the audience engaged as they traded some strong blows right from the start.

It was an even contest till the dying seconds and only in the last minute of the third round, the bout turned in the favour of Babita. The Uttarakhand pugilist avoided a lot of punches with her sound defence and launched a string of clear punches to eventually win the match with a 3-2 verdict.

In the 60 kg category, Karnataka girl Bhavya gave some reason to the local crowd to cheer as she displayed some fine technical skills and won the bout convincingly by 4-1 against Som Maya Subba of Sikkim.

In the Bantamweight category, Riya Chouhan of Punjab started her game against Poulomi Sarkar from Bengal. Though she started the contest with caution in the first round, Riya went all guns blazing in the second round only to be stopped by the referee.

Himachal's Pradesh's Sandhya won her bout against Sonal Rasal in the 64 kg category. Sandhya used her technical superiority and played a waiting game before going on offensive in the last and final round and finishing off the bout in her favour.

Sandhya will be up against World Championship Bronze Medalist Simranjit Kaur on Wednesday.

In the Welter Weight category, Gagandeep Kaur of Punjab rounded off a great day for her state by winning against Simran Mendon of Maharashtra, 5-0. She played all the three rounds at a consistent pace and with her immaculate defensive abilities, never letting her opponent get a sniff of her.

The second day witnessed 18 RSC results with 32 bouts being played out. The third day of the championships will witness the international stars in action with the likes of Nikhat Zarin, Piny Jangra, Simranjit Kaur, Sonia Lather and Shashi Chopra battling it out for the top honours.

--IANS

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