New Delhi: If Manisha Maun gave India a perfect start, Sarita Devi finished the day on a high note. In front of a half-packed KD Jadhav Indoor Stadium in New Delhi, Sarita not only began her campaign at the Aiba World Championships with a win, she enthralled the home crowd with some power-punching in her bout.
In the morning, Manisha won her bout with an unanimous decision over Christina Cruz of USA while Sarita Devi had to work harder for her victory against Diana Sandra Brugger of Switzerland.
“In the first round I was trying to observe her and find out how to go about in the next two rounds. But she came attacking from the first round itself. I was finding it difficult to control her,” she said.
After the first round, both boxers exchanged a number of punches and tried to dominate the other. But for most part, it was difficult to predict the leader. However, it was the standing count that Brugger received in the second round that turned the bout in Sarita’s favour.
“Under the new points system, you need to have a proper guard and combination of punches to fetch points. That was what I was doing. She got a standing count in the second round and in the third round I was trying to attack,” she said.
But her path at this tournament won’t be easy from here. In the pre-quarterfinals, she will be up against Kellie Herrington of Ireland who had won a silver in 64kg in the 2016 World Championships but she has gone one weight category down in this tournament.
In other bouts of the day, 2016 World Championship and Rio Olympics bronze medallist Mira Potkonen of Finland beat Commonwealth Games gold medal winner Anja Stridsman of Australia in 60kg.
Another Rio Olympics bronze winner in 60kg, Anastasia Beliakova of Russia moved to the pre-quarters with a unanimous verdict win over Elisa Williams of Panama.
In 48kg, Algerim Kassenayeva of Kazakhstan beat Jazzelle Bobadilla of United States in a 3-2 split decision to earn the right to face five-time world champion Mary Kom on Sunday.