Sonia Lather, Simranjit Kaur clinically dispatch opponents to storm into National Boxing Championships quarter-finals

Vijayanagara: World Championships medallists Sonia Lather and Simranjit Kaur beat their respective rivals with consummate ease to storm into the quarter-finals of the third women’s National Boxing Championships on Wednesday.

It also turned out to be a fruitful day in office for Commonwealth Games bronze medal winners Pinki Jangra and Manisha Moun as both entered the last eight round. Twenty-year-old Pinki of Haryana defeated Delhi’s Pratibha in 51kg class when the referee was forced to stop the contest in the third round.

World Championship bronze medallist Simranjit too joined Pinki in the quarters as the Punjab pugilist defeated Himachal’s Sandhya 5:0 without having to exert herself much in 64kg category.

Then Manisha, in bantam class (54kg) accounted for another Delhi girl Riya Tokas with a 5:0 verdict.

Asian Championship medal winner Sonia did not waste time as she started punching her way into the next round with a 5:0 decision over Saloni Singh of Maharashtra.

Nikhat Zareen of Telangana showed some excellent mix of defensive and attacking prowess against Likhitha Battini of Andhra Pradesh in the 51kg category to win by 5:0 verdict.

But it was the victory of D Bhavya from Karnataka over A Prasanna Laxmi of Telangana that attracted the local spectators in the 60kg class.

Though it was a split 4:1 verdict in favour of the Karnataka girl, Bhavya deserved to make it to the quarter-finals after a fantastic showing right from the beginning.

Earlier in the day in the 48kg, All India Police’s K Bina Devi defeated Khushboo Tokas of Delhi 5:0 to earn a quarter-final meeting with Tamil Nadu’s S.

In other bouts in the same category, Kerala’s Anchu Sabu received a walkover from Chandigarh’s Ravina even as Haryana’s Sanju beat Maharashtra’s Tanushree Bengle 5:0.

World Championship bronze medalist Lovlina Borgohain of Assam, who will open her campaign on Thursday, is also expected to move up without much hassle.