Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain and 2021 Asian Championship bronze medallist Sakshi Choudhury made their way through to the quarterfinals in the Women’s World Championships in New Delhi.
Expectations were high from Lovlina and she did not disappoint the fans present at the auditorium. She dominated her opponent Vanessa Ortiz of Mexico and won the bout 5-0 in the 75kg category. Lovlina has won two World Championship bronze medals but this time she is aiming for Gold.
The 25-year-old from Assam shared that she was not happy with her performer despite 5-0 win. She shared that her opponent was shorter than her and it made things tricky as she tried to engage with her from distance and did not commit too much.
“The opponent (Vanessa) was short in height and was attacking aggressively which is difficult to contain so my plan was 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 opened up on her performance to the media.
Lovlina will be facing Mozambique’s Rady Gramane in the next round. Gramane is the top seed in this category and has also bagged the bronze medal in the last World Championship.
Earlier, Sakshi Choudhury also won her respective bout to progress to the quarterfinals of the World Championships. She registered a dominant 5-0 win over Uzbekistan’s Zhazira Urakbayeva.
Haryana’s Sakshi used her reach and aggression in the ring and landed some heavy blows rattling her opponent. The Two-time World Youth champion dominated her opponent with combination punches and quick movement.
Sakshi shared that her coach’s strategy and the cheer from the crowd motivated her to push against her opposition and finally bag a dominant win. “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 vigor and the passion that I currently possess, I am definitely focused on clinching the gold,” Sakshi said following her bout.
She will now face Chinese boxer Wu Yu in the next round.
India’s Preeti (54kg) unfortunately lost to World Championship silver medallist Jutamas Jitpong of Thailand. It was a close encounter and the Thai pugilist edged it 3-2. The 19-year-old Indian boxer did fight till the end but it was not enough.
