The 2016 World Championships silver medallist Sonia Lather of Railway Sports Promotion Board and Tamil Nadu’s S Kalaivani started their campaigns with dominating victories on the opening day of the 7th Elite Women’s National Boxing Championships in Greater Noida.
Sonia started the bout aggressively against Mahi Lama of Madhya Pradesh in the 57kg opening round match before securing a comfortable 5-0 win.
Kalaivani, last edition’s silver medallist, also proved too strong for Milano Mj of Kerala in the 48kg match. Kalaivani’s relentless attack forced the referee to stop the contest in the third round and declare her the winner.
Kalaivani will now square off against Haryana’s Gitika in the next round, who beat Meraj Begum of Telangana by referee stopping the contest in round 1 (RSC) win.
Rinku (52kg) and Tannu (57kg) were the other boxers from Haryana to register victories and progress into the round of 16.
Meanwhile, the 2021 Asian Youth Championships silver medallist Nivedita Karki (48kg) of Uttarakhand dominated Veronica Sohshang of Meghalaya to secure Referee Stopping the Contest (RSC) win in round 2.
The reigning world champion Saweety Boora (81kg), 2022 World Championships bronze medallist Manisha (60kg) and Tokyo Olympian Pooja Rani (75kg) will begin their campaigns on the second day of the prestigious tournament which is organised by the Boxing Federation of India.
The ongoing tournament has been witnessing over 300 boxers competing across 12 weight categories for top honours. The finals will be played on December 27.