Women's World Boxing C'ships | Manju Rani enters quarters, one win away from medal

Coming to the tournament as the sixth seed, India’s Manju Rani was up against Rojas in the 48kg category in her debut World Boxing Championships. The Haryana girl had won the silver medal at the prestigious Strandja Memorial Tournament and was easily the favourite to win the bout. And the outcome was as expected as Rani looked way better in terms of her accuracy of punches that her Venezuelan opponent found hard to defend. 

Her clean strikes made the job easy for the judges to nod the final result of 5-0 in her favour. She has advanced into the pre-quarters of the tournament where she would now face top seed Kim Hyang Mi of South Korea. A win in the next bout would assure her and India a medal. 

However, Rani’s fellow pugilist Manju Bamboriya, who was fighting in the 64kg, didn’t have the same fate. She was up against fourth-seeded Angela Carini of Italy, the Indian was seen going down 1-4 in her opening game in Ulan-Ude, Russia.

After one of their biggest hopes Sarita Devi saw an early elimination, India would see six-time World Champion Mary Kom kicking off her campaign against Thailand’s Jutamas Jitpong in the 51kg category. The third-seeded Indian, who is aiming for her seventh World Championships gold, had a bye in the first round. Wednesday would see Saweety Boora (75kg) taking on Commonwealth Games gold medallist and second-seed Lauren Price of Wales.