Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain lived up to the expectations and won gold in 75kg weight category at the 6th Elite Women’s National Boxing Championships in Bhopal on December 26.
Manipur’s young boxer Sanamacha Thokchom Chanu, who won gold medal at the 2021 Youth World Championships, also put up an impressive show to secure the title in the 70kg by beating Madhya Pradesh’s Shruti Yadav 3-2 in the thrilling final.
Another Assam boxer Ankushita Boro had to settle for silver after she went down to Manju Bamboria of Madhya Pradesh in the 66kg weight category.
Lovlina beat Arundhati Choudhary of the Services Sports Control Board (SSCB) quite comfortably by 5-0 margin in the 75kg final.
The reigning world champion Nikhat Zareen also registered the victory to clinch the title while Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) lifted the team trophy with 10 medals.
Zareen faced a stiff challenge from RSPB’s Anamika in the 50kg gold medal match before the 26-year-old Telangana pugilist tilted the match 4-1 in her favour to successfully defend her title.
Players received the medals in the presence of the union minister for youth affairs and sports Anurag Singh Thakur along with the Boxing Federation of India officials.
Another highlight of the day was Manju Rani, who led the domination of RSPB on the final day. The 2019 World Championships silver medallist handed RSPB its first gold after outpunching Tamil Nadu’s S Kalaivani 5-0 in the 48kg final. Shiksha (54kg), Poonam (60kg), Shashi Chopra (63kg) and Nupur (+81kg) were the other gold medallists for RSPB, who also bagged three silver and two bronze medals.
Madhya Pradesh, with one gold, two silver and five bronze, and Haryana (two gold and two bronze) claimed second and third positions respectively.
Haryana’s Manisha (57kg) and Saweety (81kg), SSCB’s Sakshi (52kg), and Madhya Pradesh’s Manju Bamboria (66kg) also clinched gold medals in their respective categories at the prestigious tournament which witnessed participation of 302 boxers fighting in 12 categories.
