Manju Rani wins silver in World boxing championships

Stupendous debut run ends in the final

October 13, 2019 11:06 pm | Updated 11:06 pm IST - Ulan-Ude (Russia)

Decisive moment:  Manju Rani looks on as Ekaterina Paltceva of Russia is declared winner.

Decisive moment: Manju Rani looks on as Ekaterina Paltceva of Russia is declared winner.

Indian boxer Manju Rani’s stupendous debut run at the women’s World boxing championships ended with a silver medal on Sunday after she lost the light flyweight (48kg) final to Russia’s Ekaterina Paltceva.

The Haryana boxer, who was seeded sixth, went down 4-1 to the second-seeded local favourite in the first final of the day.

Manju Rani was the lone Indian to make a final after six-time champion M.C. Mary Kom (51kg), Jamuna Boro (54kg) and Lovlina Borgohain (69kg) finished with bronze medals.

There was very little separating Manju Rani and her rival, both of whom looked to attack in the first round. The Russian stood out for her near-perfect left hooks in the opening three minutes.

In the second round, the Indian connected some good straights and seemed to have the upper hand. The proceedings slowed down in the final three minutes when both adopted a cautious approach. There was quite a bit of holding, requiring the referee’s intervention quite a few times.

However, at the end of it, the Russian emerged victorious perhaps owing to her sharper reflexes.

Manju Rani broke into the National camp only this year by winning the National crown for Punjab after not getting the selection nod in Haryana.

Earlier this year, she won a silver medal on debut at the prestigious Strandja Memorial tournament, one of Europe’s oldest and most competitive boxing events.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.