Women's National Boxing Championships: Sonia Chahal, Meenakumari Devi enter semi-finals, confirm medals

Kannur (Kerala): Last year’s World Championships silver medallist Sonia Chahal (57kg) and Cologne World Cup gold medallist Meenakumari Devi (54kg) confirmed medals as they stormed into the semi-finals of 4th Elite Women’s National Boxing Championships here on Friday. Chahal, who won the 57kg gold in 2016 and the bronze in 2017, had to fight hard against Himachal Pradesh’s Vinakshi on her way to a gritty 3-2 win. All India Police’s Meenakumari Devi got closer to the defence of her 54kg title with a dominant 5-0 victory over Jharkhand’s Sabiha Khanam. [caption id=“attachment_3976167” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Getty images[/caption] Fresh from winning the coveted gold medal at the 2019 World Police and Fire Games, Arjuna awardee Kavita Chahal (+81kg) brought that sterling form to the Nationals to continue her winning spree. The two-time Women’s World Boxing Championships bronze medallist moved one step closer to the top podium when she landed a flurry of punches to knock out Rajasthan’s Barbara Sampson 5-0. Former youth world champion Shashi Chopra (60kg), hailing from Haryana, also put up an impressive performance in her quarter-final bout against Chandigarh’s Manju, winning it 5-0. Fellow former youth world champion Ankushita Boro of Assam set the ring on fire with an assured display in 64kg that saw her heavily beat Mizoram’s Abisak Vanlalmawii by an identical scoreline. India Open champion Bhagyabati Kachari (81kg) too was at her aggressive best and the referee had to stop the contest in her favour in Round 1 against Telengana’s Saara Qureshi. While Rajasthan’s Lalita and Delhi’s Anjali progressed ahead in 69kg, Haryana’s Nupur (75kg) emerged a Referee Stop Contest (RSC) winner in Round 1 over Uttarakhand’s Neha Chauhan to continue her comeback since playing the Asian Championships. India Open runner-up Vanlal Duati (51kg) faced no hassle in advancing to the last-four with a 5-0 win over Madhya Pradesh’s Deepa Kumari while Chandigarh’s Ritu (57kg) shone with a 5-0 demolition of Delhi’s Jyoti. Punjab also had quite a few pugilists winning, with Parminder Kaur (81kg), Minakshi (48kg), Mandeep Kaur Sandhu (57kg) all entering the semi-finals. The semi-finals will be played on Saturday with the final bouts scheduled on December 8.