Staying calm: Preeti got here up with glorious counter-attacks to emerge victorious in opposition to Perijoc of Romania within the 54kg class.
| Photo Credit: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR
Nineteen-year-old Preeti Sai Pawar displayed an excellent mixture of abilities and maturity to stun present silver medallist and top seed Lacramioara Perijoc in a fiercely-fought 54kg second spherical bout of the World ladies’s boxing championships on the Ok.D. Jadhav Hall right here on Saturday.
Preeti pipped Romanian Perijoc, the World No. 2 and a 2019 European champion, 4-3 following ‘bout review’ to arrange a pre-quarterfinal conflict with one other 2022 Worlds silver medallist (52kg) Jutamas Jitpong of Thailand.
Commonwealth Games champion Nitu Ghanghas (48kg), who returned to motion after a lay-off, and National champion Manju Bamboriya (66kg) additionally received convincingly to unfold cheers within the house camp.
An Asian bronze medallist, Preeti was magnificent within the second bout of her first World championship. She took the opening spherical 3-2 following a heavy alternate of punches and trailed 2-3 within the subsequent.
Backed by a partisan crowd, Preeti maintained her composure. Relying on her fast toes, the Haryana boxer executed her counter-attacks nicely even whereas caring for her defence within the action-packed third spherical to emerge triumphant.
“I prepared hard, wanted to prove that I am no less. In the last round, I was taking a step back to avoid my opponent’s punches and counter-attack,” mentioned a assured Preeti.
Raining punches
Nitu rained punches to grab initiative in opposition to Asian bronze medallist Doyeon Kang of South Korea.
Two counts on Doyeon had been ok for the referee to cease the competition in lower than two minutes of the primary spherical.
Nitu will meet Tajikistan’s Sumaiya Qosimova within the pre-quarters.
In her second World championship after 2019, tall southpaw Manju obtained the higher of five-time New Zealand champion Cara Wharerau with a 5-0 verdict.
She will face Asian champion and No.1 seed Navbakhor Khamidova within the last-16.
Important outcomes (preliminary rounds):
48kg: Madoka Wada (Jpn) bt Chien-Ling Liu (Tpe) 5-0; Sumaiya Qosimova (Tjk) 4-3; Nitu Ghanghas bt Doyeon Kang RSC-R1; Iuliia Chumgalakova (Rus) bt Ngyuen Thi Hoi (Vie) bt 5-0; Farzona Fozilova (Uzb) bt Roberta Bonatti (Ita) 5-0; Tantsetseg Lutsaikhan (Mgl) bt Rim Bennama (Fra) 5-0; Lilla Szeleczki (Hun) bt Yasmine Mouttaki (MAr) 5-0.
54kg: Delphine Mancini (Fra) bt Estefani de Leon (Dom) 4-1; Karina Tazabekova (Rus) bt Regina Benilde (Moz) 3-1; Preeti Sai Pawar bt Lacramioara Perijoc 4-3; Jutamas Jitpong (Tha) bt minu Gurung (Nep) 5-0; Enkhjargal Munguntsetseg (Mgl) bt Widad BErtal (Mar) 3-0; Tiana Echegaray (Aus) bt Hana Narita (Jpn) 4-1; Iulia Coroli (Mda) bt Fatima Hedjala (Alg) 3-1; Zhaina Shekerbekova (Kaz) bt Aeji Im (Kor) (Kaz) 4-1.
66kg: Beatriz Soares (Bra) bt Maria Hernandez (Gua) 5-0; Liu Yang (Chn) bt Nien-Chin Chen (Tpe) 5-0; Manju Bamboriya bt Cara Wharerau (NZ) 5-0; Milena Matovic (Srb) bt Sema Caliskan (Tur) 5-0; Emilie Sonvico (Fra) bt Angela Carini (Ita) 4-3; Nadezhda Ryabets (Kaz) bt Sujin Seon (Kor) 4-3; Ivanusa Gomes (Cpv) bt Francinah Kasemang (Bot) 5-0.
