Defending champion Vanlal Duati of Tripura survived a scare from Pinky of Haryana before winning the first round in the 48kg category in the 11th Senior Women's National boxing championship here on Sunday.
The scores at the end of the first three bouts were level at two points each. Vanlal was rapidly tiring in the fourth round and her footwork became awry.
But Pinky lowered her guard in going for the kill as Vanlal was pushed into the corner and the champion managed a crucial punch in the dying seconds for a narrow win.
Former Asian champion Kalpana Chaudhary of Railways bit the dust in the opening round as she went down tamely to Mamta of Bihar.
Mamta's aggressive instincts fetched her points in the opening round while Kalpana was passive and hardly made an attempt to push her rival.
L. Saritha Devi opened her campaign in style with a crushing win over Elpha Wakhet of Assam. The referee stopped the contest in the second round with Saritha leading 5-0.
Meanwhile, the Indian Boxing Association has announced cash awards to all winners of the preliminary bouts.
The results (first round): 48kg: Sharda (Chts) bt Dimple Bamrah (Jhr) 6-5; Roshni Bhushal (Meg) bt Naina Rani (Pun) 8-3; Hemanthi Mehta (Utr) bt E. Thulasi (TN) 9-3; Richa Sharma (UP) bt Kasundra Jalpa (Guj) 3-0; Vanlal Duati (Tri) bt Pinky (Har) 3-2; Vinisha Joshi (Raj) bt Khalda Wali (Mah) 8-4; Krisha Thapa (MP) bt Madhu Smitha Sahoo (Ori) RSC; A. Punyavathi (AP) bt Hardeep (Chd) RSC; Mamta (Bih) bt Kalpana Chaudhary (RSCB) 5-0; Jhanabhi Gogri (Asm) bt Soniya Jalandhar (Goa) 1-0; Mana Rama Maharana (Kar) bt Kiran Multa (HP) 3-2.
51kg: Malini Singh (Mah) bt Ritu Kumari (Jhr) 7-1; Tonibala Chanu (Aru) bt Kalabati Tanty (Ori) 6-0; L. Saritha Devi (Man) bt Epha Wakhet (Asm) RSC.
