India finishes fourth

BANGKOK, AUG. 30. India lost all the three final bouts to finish fourth in the inaugural Asian women's boxing championships, bagging three silver medals and one bronze, that concluded here on Wednesday.

South Korea won the championships winning five golds and one bronze, China came second with three golds, two silvers and six bronze and Thailand third, with one gold, two silvers.

In the 71 kg final, India's Lakshmi put up a brave show before losing to Guo Shuai of China. Shuai came up with strong punches and broke Laxmi's weak defence in the opening round and a right cross on Laxmi's chin invited a mandatory count. Soon, Shuai connected again for a second mandatory count and the referee stopped the bout. The Chinese won with a 6:0 verdict.

In the 57 kg, L. Sarita Devi fought gallantly against Mao Zhang but lost the bout due to poor scoring. Devi received a powerful right hook in the first round that got a mandatory count. The round ended with Zhang leading 2:1. Devi came back in the second with a couple of good scoring punches, but Zhang too got a few on target and round two ended with the Indian trailing 4:6. The third and final round saw Devi going all out but her efforts did not pay dividends as she failed to land her punches on target.

In the 67 kg Jenny Lalremliant of Mizoram challenged the Thai boxer Monruthai Bangsalad. The local girl went on the offensive and recorded a handsome lead of 8:2 at the end of the first round.

The second and third round went in favour of Lalremliant as the Mizo girl dug up all her skill to score over the Thai and forced her to face a mandatory count. At the end of the second round Bangsalad was leading 11:7. Though the Thai faced a second mandatory count in the third round the final verdict went in her favour 15:12. Bangsalad escaped a third mandatory count in the final round when Lalremliant landed a powerful right, but the referee remained unmoved.

- PTI

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Sport
Next     : Humpy - a remarkable achiever