NEW DELHI, March 17: India’s Jaismine Lamboria and Shashi Chopra put on a dynamic show to secure an impressive victory to advance to the next round of the Mahindra IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships here on Friday.
2022 Commonwealth Games bronze medalist Jaismine kicked off her campaign in style at the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex on Friday.
One of India’s most skilled young boxers, Jaismine started her campaign with a Referee Stopped Contest (RSC) win over Tanzania’s Nyambega Beatrice Ambros in the 60kg division of 32 rounds. The 21-year-old boxer from Haryana started off the front foot with her aggressive intent and a barrage of punches knocked her opponent to the ropes in just 12 seconds before she was declared the winner of the first round superior.
Jasmine will face Tajikistan’s Samadova Migona in the next round after claiming the fastest win of the tournament.
Shashi also performed well in a 5-0 win over Kenya’s Mwangi Teresiah in the 63kg division. The Indian was at her best attacking form and she proved to be too strong for her opponent as she used her deft jab and tough defense to win the fight with ease. She will face 2022 Asian Championships silver medalist Mai Kito of Japan in the round of 16.
Meanwhile, in the 70kg category, Shruti Yadav lost 5-0 to Zhou Pan of China.
In the big upset of the day, China’s Wen Luyang defeated 2016 world champion Italy’s Alessia Messiano, who also won bronze in the 2014 and 2022 events, in the 60kg category. A big win with a unanimous decision. The Chinese boxer, who recently won a silver medal at the 74th Strandja Memorial, showed great confidence and finesse to beat her opponent and advance to the round of 16.
Two Indian boxers, Nitu Ghanghas (48kg) and Manju Bamboriya (66kg), will start their bout on Saturday. Tokyo 2020 silver medalist Beatrice Suarez of Brazil and last year’s World Championship silver medalist Iman Khalif of Algeria will also compete in the 66kg category.
The ongoing event features 324 boxers from 65 countries, including several Olympic medalists, who will compete for the title in 12 weight classes. The tournament has a prize pool of up to INR 200 crore.
–IANS
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