Lovlina and Simranjit assert their class in National Games boxing

Olympic bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain executed her gameplan well to beat former World championships silver medallist Saweety Boora 5-0 and secure the women’s 75kg gold medal at the boxing arena on the concluding day of the National Games here on Wednesday.

This was Lovlina’s first medal after switching to the middleweight, in which she would make her international debut at the upcoming Asian championships in Amman.

Lovlina, who recovered from a nose injury that happened during the selection trials for the continental event and entered the Games at the last minute, found some rhythm against the hard-punching Saweety.

The lanky Lovlina moved sideways to evade Saweety’s attacks and landed her jabs and combinations on the counter.

Olympian Simranjit Kaur beat arch-rival Jaismine Lamboria 4-0 in a fascinating duel and took the women’s 60kg title.

Bobbing and weaving

Simranjit bobbed and weaved nicely and landed her accurate head and body shots on her rival in the first two rounds. Jaismine, a taller southpaw, moved better and used her long hands to deliver quality punches in the third round but could not stop the experienced Simranjit.

In a highly physical contest in which both the boxers bled midway through the bout, Asian champion Sanjeet avenged his loss to Naveen Kumar in the trials for the Asian championships by recording a 5-0 victory.

Sanjeet delivered some clear punches in an exchange of heavy blows to win the men’s 92kg crown.

Services bagged five of the eight men’s gold medals. Haryana and Assam boxers cornered two gold medals apiece of the five golds on offer for women.

The results (Finals): Men: 51kg: Ankit Sharma (Har) bt Avinash Chandel (HP) 5-0; 57kg: Muhammad Hussamuddin (SSCB) bt Sachin Siwach Jr. (Har) 3-1; 60kg: Etash Muhammed Khan (SSCB) bt Vijay Kumar (Pun) 5-0; 67kg: Akash Sangwan (SSCB) bt Sagar (Har) 5-0; 75kg: Nikhil Dubey (Mah) bt Malsawmitluanga (Miz) 5-0; 80kg: Vinit (Har) bt Sachin Kumar (SSCB) 5-0; 92kg: Sanjeet (SSCB) bt Naveen Kumar (Har) 5-0; +92kg: Narender (SSCB) bt Sawan Gill (Chd) 5-0.

Women: 52kg: Minakshi (Har) bt Shobhja Kohli (Utk) 5-0; 57kg: Poonam (Har) bt Mandeep Kaur (Pub) 4-1; 60kg: Simranjit Kaur (Pun) bt Jaismine Lamboria (Har) 4-0; 66kg: Ankushita Boro (Asm) bt Alena Thounaojam (Man) RSC-R2; 75kg: Lovlina Borgohain (Asm) bt Saweety Boora (Har) 5-0.