Sonia Chahal’s upset victory over Bulgarian Olympian and former World championships medallist Stanimira Petrova remained one of the highlights of another bright day for India in the World women’s boxing championships at the Indira Gandhi Stadium Complex here on Monday.
The host looked at the prospect of another successful campaign in the event after a long time as Sonia (57kg), Pinki Rani (51kg) and Simranjit Kaur (64kg) joined five other Indians, including Seema Poonia (+81kg), who directly reached the quarterfinals, in the last-eight stage.
Sonia rode her luck to stun Stanimira with a 3-2 scoreline.
With two boxers of similar style in action — showcasing open guard and waiting for the other to strike — it had to be a case of who blinked first.
Having sparred with Stanimira before the championships, Sonia had her task cut out and looked for counter-attacks. However, she could not check the Bulgarian, who exhibited superb instinct and landed accurate head shots to put pressure in first two rounds.
Sonia switched to attacking mode in the final round and clinched the bout.
“I thought I was losing in the second round, so I had to be aggressive in the final,” said Sonia. She will meet Colombian Yeni Castenada, who defeated Russia’s Maria Sartakova 5-0.
Shocked
Stanimira, 27, was shocked with the decision. She The dejected 27-year-old said: “I want to say one thing — all judges (sic) in corruption. Not a fair result.”
The Bulgarian coach, 1980 Moscow Olympics flyweight gold medallist Petar Lesov, threw a water bottle and made some gesture at home supporters.
The International Boxing Association (AIBA) “decided to remove the accreditation, and therefore the right to be in the corner, from Lesov due to his unacceptable behaviour... The incident will be forwarded to the Disciplinary Commission”.
Pinki overcame Alice Jones of England 5-0. She conceded some ground in the opening round before catching up with her counter-punching skills and setting up a quarterfinal clash with North Korea’s Asiad silver medallist Pang Chol-Mi, who beat Thailand’s Jutamas Jitpong 5-0.
Simranjit saw off Scottish Megan Reid 5-0. After a sluggish first round, Simranjit improved her foot movement and sprayed an assortment of hooks and straight punches to win the contest convincingly. She will clash with Irish Amy Broadhurst, who tamed Armenian Ani Hovsepian 5-0.
Saweety Boora, a 2014 Worlds silver medallist in 81kg, lost to Polish Olympian Elzbieta Wojcik 5-0.
Other important results (preliminary rounds):
51kg: Tsukimi Namiki (Jpn) bt Ceire Rose Smith (Irl) 3-2; Zhaina Shekerbekova (Kaz) bt Ingrit Victoria (Col) 3-2; Sandra Katarzyna Drabik (Pol) bt Lise Sandebjer (Swe) 5-0; Yuan Chang (Chn) bt Claudia Nechita (Rou) 5-0; Virginia Fuchs (USA) bt Euna Jang (Kor) 5-0.
57kg: Skye Nicolson (Aus) bt Nilawan Techasuep (Tha) 3-2; Alessia Mesiano (Ita) bt Michaela Walsh (Irl) 4-1; Junhua Yin (Chn) bt Leonela Sanchez (Arg) 5-0; Ornella Wahner (Ger) bt Victoria Glover (Sco) 5-0.
64kg: Milana Safronova (Kaz) bt Maya Kleinhans (Ger) 3-2; Sema Caliskan (Tur) bt Dana Maria Borzei (Rou) 5-0; Maria Bova (Ukr) bt Yvonne Rasmussen (Den) 3-2; Jessica Messina (Aus) bt Soumaya Tabarkokt (Alg) 5-0; Dan Dou (Chn) bt Francesca Amato (Ita) 5-0.
75kg: Nouchka Fontijn (Ned) bt Myagmarjargal Munkbhat (Mgl) 5-0; Lauren Price (Wal) bt Aoife O’Rourke (Irl) 5-0; Natasha Louise Gale (Eng) bt Assunta Canfora (Ita) 5-0; Qian Li (Chn) bt Love Holgersson (Swe) 4-1.
