Women's National Boxing Championships: Chandigarh, Punjab pugilists dominate on day 2

Boxers from Chandigarh and Punjab dominated the proceedings on the second day of 4th Elite Women’s National Boxing Championships here on Tuesday.

Chandigarh’s Savita (54 kg) outboxed last year’s bronze medallists KH Shamim Banu from Manipur in a 3-2 split verdict, while 2018 silver medallist Nupur (75 kg) from Haryana began her campaign with an easy 5-0 win over Rajasthan’s Shweta.

Madhya Pradesh’s Jigyasa Rajput (81 kg), a bronze medal from the previous edition, also started on a winning note as she defeated Uttarakhand’s Babita 5-0.

In the 64 kg category, Chandigarh’s Neema showed superb form and fitness to notch up a win against Sarmila Rai of Sikkim.

Monika (51kg), Ritu (57 kg), Manju (60 kg) were other boxers to win from Chandigarh as five pugilists from the region moved into the next round.

While a total number of 52 bouts were played in the day, Punjab’s Mandeep Kaur Sandhu blanked Uttar Pradesh’s Shilpa Baliyan 5-0 in the featherweight category.

Punjab’s Gagandeep Kaur (69 kg) and Kamaljeet Kaur (51 kg) also notched up easy wins.

The pugilists will be competing in all the ten weight categories — 48kg, 51kg, 54kg, 57kg, 60kg, 64kg, 69 kg, 75 kg, 81kg and +81kg.

The preliminary matches will be played on the first four days followed by the knockout stage starting from December 6.

The final matches will be played on 8 December.