It turned out to be a bad outing for Indian pugilists and with the exception of L. Sarita Devi, none of the other three boxers in fray could advance on day six of competitions in the 20th Commonwealth Games in Glasgow on Wednesday.
Sarita knocked out Nigeria’s Kehinde Obareh 2-0 to advance to the quarterfinals in women’s 57-60kg. The 32-year-old Manipuri boxer notched up 10:9 verdicts in both the rounds.
The Indian will next take on Welsh Charlene Jones in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
Late in the evening, in women’s 75kg round of 16 bout, Pooja Rani lost to fancied 2012 World Boxing Championships winner Savannah Marshall of England 0-3 on points in an unanimous decision of the three judges. All the three judges gave identical 10-9 verdicts in the four rounds, indicating a close fight.
It was also curtains for defending champion Manoj Kumar, who lost his last 8 bout.
In the men’s lightweight 64kg bout, the Games ended rather early for Manoj as he proved to be no match for England’s Samuel Maxwell, who registered a 3-0 victory over his opponent from India. The Englishman won with identical score lines of 27:30 in each of the three rounds.
Sumit Sangwan, too, lost his quarterfinals bout to David Nyika of New Zealand 1-2. Sangwan was leadin g after the first round but lost the plot thereafter.
