Former World champion K.C. Lekha made a stunning comeback by winning the gold in the over 81kg weight category of the Monnet 11th senior women's boxing championship at the Lulu International Convention Centre here on Friday.
Lekha, returning to top class competition after a gap of three years, upset current World bronze medallist Kavita Chal 8-2 in the final.
Aggressive
Clearly overweight and rusty, Lekha's experience and her indomitable spirit stood her in good stead in the final. Kavita was unusually nervous and allowed Lekha to call the shots from the start. Though her footwork was sluggish, Lekha was aggressive and connected with a left hook to score her first point. She slowly grew in confidence and with a combination of left-right punches took a 2-0 lead.
But Kavita shrugged off her defensive approach and punched with more assurance towards the end of the second round to reduce the lead to 2-1.
Watched by her husband and young child, Lekha simply outclassed Kavita in the crucial third round. With the combination punches working well, Lekha pushed her opponent to a corner and scored points at will. Lekha swelled her lead to 8-2 at the end of the third round. The former World champion had no difficultly in warding off her rival's challenge in the fourth round much to the delight of the crowd.
Lekha's win capped a fine day for Kerala as earlier in the 75kg weight category Princy Joseph won the gold. Princy outclassed D. Narmadha of Tamil Nadu in a one-sided final.
L. Sarita Devi, who was declared the best boxer of the championship, easily packed off Rebecca Mawii 15-1 to win the gold in the 51kg weight category. Vanlal Duati also defended her title in the 48kg division. Haryana won the overall title with 32 points. Kerala and Delhi shared the second spot with 17 points each.
The results: (all finals):48kg: Vanlal Duati (Tri) bt Monita Devi (Aru) 3-1. 51kg: L. Sarita Devi (Man) bt Rebecca Mawii (Miz) 15-1. 54kg: Sonia (Har) bt Geeta Solanki (Del) 5-3. 57kg: Pavitra (Har) bt Dorothy Lal Chhanhimi (Miz) 6-3. 60kg: Meena Rani (UP) bt Monica Saun (Pun) 4-1. 64kg: Aruna Misha (AIP) bt Minu Basumatary (Asm) 7-2. 69kg: Kavita Goyat (Del) bt Pinky (Chd) 12-1. 75kg: Princy Joseph (Ker) bt D. Narmadha (TN) RSC. 81kg: Sonam (Har) bt Laxmi Padiya (AIP) 6-3. Over 81kg: K.C. Lekha (Ker) bt Kavita Chal (Har) 8-2.
Thursday's results (semifinals): 75kg: Princy Joseph (Ker) bt Jagriti (Del) 8-2; D. Narmadha (TN) w/o Pooja Rani (Har). 81kg: Sonam (Har) bt Amandeep Kaur RSC; Laxmi Padiya bt N. Sangita Devi 6-1. Over 81kg: K.C. Lekha (Ker) bt Renu Bala (Pun) 15-8; Kavita (Har) bt B.V. Padmavathi (AP) 9-0.
