Sonia Chahal became the second Indian boxer to enter the final of the Aiba World Championships after winning her semi-final bout by unanimous decision on Friday.
In the 57kg weight category semi-final, Sonia faced Son Hwa-jo of North Korea and won by unanimous decision. This is the Haryana boxer’s debut World Championships.
But another Worlds debutant Simranjit Kaur had to settle for bronze medal as she lost her semi-final bout in the 64kg weight category to Dan Dou.
Mary Kom was the other Indian boxer to enter the final, winning her 48kg by unanimous decision on Thursday. Lovlina Borgohain ended with a bronze medal after she had lost her semi-final of the 69kg category.
Sonia, like in her previous bouts, began on a passive note and at no point looked the dominant boxer. She rarely landed a punch in the first round. The North Korean boxer adopted a counter-punching strategy but with Sonia rarely attacking, she turned aggressor.
The second round saw Sonia move around the ring briskly, which caused a few problems for Jo but she still failed to land clean punches.
The Indian began the third round on a high note and landed her right-handed punches cleanly. Sonia, though, backpedaled and invited trouble in the last few seconds of the bout which in turn allowed Jo to pull things back, making it a tough decision to call.
“She was an experienced boxer and I had a tough bout. I just did what my coaches told me to do,” Sonia said after the bout. “I am happy with the decision and apart from the first round, which I think I lost, the second was close while in the third I was the clear winner”.
But the five judges believed that Sonia was the better boxer of the two and awarded her all the three rounds, a decision which left many surprised.
Simranjit’s result, however, was a fair reflection of bout. A loss by 1-4 split decision showed that the Indian was only dominant in some parts of the bout.
The Chinese boxer decided to stay far from Simranjit, perhaps knowing the Indian’s habit of getting involved in a slugfest.
But by the third round, a tiring Simrajit did land her punches and went all out. Despite that, she ended her tournament just like she began – with a bout that saw heavy punches from both boxers. Only this time, she ended on the wrong side of the line.