Sarju, Lather emerge victorious at women’s boxing nationals

Rohtak (Haryana), Jan 12: Sarju Bala of Manipur and Sonia Lather of Railways won the titles in their respective weight categories at the 2nd Elite Womens National Boxing Championship here on Friday.

Sarju, who successfully defended her title in the flyweight category, used her experience to launch a tremendous fightback to emerge victorious after major setbacks in the three-round duel against Haryana's Ritu.

Sarju seemed to have lost her gripping as she slipped and let her opponent land straight punches which left her unsettled in the initial moments of the bout. 

However, a gritty Sarju wasn't going down without a fight as she came back from the initial hiccups and came into her own to land a few punches.

But Sarju slipped again in the second round and alllowed her opponent to launch an attack and the pugilist from Haryana did just that. 

But Sarju displayed superb resilience to get back at her opponent again to win the title via split decision with a 3-2 scoreline.

In the featherweight category, World and Asian Championship medallist Sonia Lather didn't break a sweat as she went past the defeated World Youth Boxing Championship gold medallist Shashi Chopra in a convincing manner.

Shashi, who won at the World Youth Boxing Championship last year, was left disappointed after she had to settle for silver against the highly decorated and experienced Sonia. 

However, her debut at the senior level surely earned her a lot of plaudits.

But it was the Railways boxers who ruled the roost as Rajesh Narwal (48 kilogram), Pwilao Basumatary (64kg), Bhagyabati Kachari (81kg), Seema Poonia (82kg), Sonia Lather (57kg) bagged gold medals while Pavitra (60kg) narrowly lost out to Laishram Sarita Devi and settled for silver.

The Railways squad thus emerged with the highest number of medals.