Olympics qualifier: Sarita advances, Pooja Rani loses

Qinhuangdao: India had a mixed luck on Day 2 of the 7th AIBA World Women Boxing Championships, which is the only Olympic qualification event for women, in progress at Qinhuangdao, China as Asian Championship 2012 Gold Medalist Sarita Devi advanced to the next round while Pooja Rani bowed out to Claressa Maria Shields of USA.

Sarita (60kg) defeated Ayzanat Hajiyeva of Azerbaijan on points 27:11. The scoreline is not indicative of the level of competition as Sarita and Ayzanat were evenly matched at the end of Round 1 wherein Sarita had taken a slender lead of 4:3.

However in Round 2, Sarita changed her game plan and went on the offensive throughout the round, notching up a remarkable lead at 15:12 pts. The Azeri boxer did respond with a couple of brilliant counterpunches but Sarita utilising her vast experience kept her at bay and ended Round 3 at 22:8.

In the final round both Sarita and Ayzanat fought extremely hard and Sarita romped home the Winner 27:11 pts. On 14 May 2012, Sarita will play against Gulsum Tatar of Turkey who has been seeded World No.2 at this Championships and had hence received a bye to the next round.

In the 75 kgs weight category, Pooja Rani was defeated by a dazzling display of youth power, speed and controlled aggression by her opponent Claressa Maria Shields of USA who is just 17 years old and had defeated the World No.1 seed Mary Spencer of Canada last month.

Pooja made a strong start in Round 1 but yet trailed on points 7:3 at the end of the round. While Pooja did land a couple of telling blows on Claressa’s face, the counter punches from the USA boxer were lightning fast and helped her to consolidate the lead to 14:5. By the end of Round 3 the score was 21:7 and ended Round 4 on points 27:11. The USA Coaches were of the opinion that Claressa would create ripples at this World Championships and may defeat top ranked boxers on her way.

On Day 3, five Indian boxers will be seen in action. Marykom (51 kgs), Sonia Lather (54 kgs), Pinky Jhangra (48 kgs), Meena Rani (64 kgs) and Neetu Chahal (69 kgs) will be vying for a place in the next round.