Tokyo Olympic bronze-medallist Lovlina Borgohain (75kg) began her campaign with a win to seal a quarter-final berth at the Women’s World Boxing Championships. Along with Lovlina, Sakshi (52kg) also sealed her place in the last eight with a convincing 5-0 win here on Monday. While Lovlina got the better of Mexico’s Vanessa Ortiz, Sakshi got the better of Kazakhstan’s Jazira Urabaeva. The Indian campaign, however, suffered a setback with the loss of Preeti. He had to face defeat in a close match.
There was controversy over Preity’s place in the Indian team for the tournament as she had not won a title in the national championship. The 19-year-old put up a strong show in the 54kg category but lost to last year’s silver medalist Jitpong Jutamas of Thailand in a thrilling contest. The Thai, who had won a medal in the 52kg category last season, got the better of Preeti 4-3. The match was so close that the review had to be resorted to for the final result.
Preity started aggressively to take a 4-1 lead in the first round of the tie but failed to maintain the momentum in the next two rounds. “I learned a lot from this bout,” said Preeti. My opponent was very strong. I need to work harder. I was aggressive in the first round and I should have carried it on and dominated the bout.” Competing in the new weight category of 75kg, Lovlina got a bye in the first round. He took a step towards a medal by winning his first bout.
The two-time bronze medalist at the World Championships looked a bit defensive against her formidable opponent. Lovlina was forced to play from a distance due to her greater length, which made it difficult for her to land accurate punches. “It was my first bout, she was a smaller boxer than me,” he said after the bout. I was struggling to stick to my strategy. I could have done better. ,
“I am challenging in this weight category for the first time in the World Championship. It will be difficult as other boxers are already competing in this weight class. We have to see how to play with which opponent. I think I can do better. ”Asian Championship 2021 bronze medalist Sakshi took full advantage of her height and lashed out at the opponent boxer fiercely. He didn’t give him a chance to retaliate.
He said after the win, “I played better than expected. She is a good boxer and I thought it would be a close fight but I dominated.” Later in the day, Preeti (54kg) will play a round of 16 bout and Olympic bronze medalist Lovlina Borgohain will take on Mexico’s Vanessa Ortiz in the 75kg pre-quarterfinals. .
