He has coached both Sonia Chahal and Sakshi Chaudhary in Haryana's Bhiwani Boxing Club but Jagdish Singh was not willing to bet on the outcome of the fight between the two in the fourth Elite National women's boxing championship here on Sunday.
“They are both almost equal, it will be a close bout,” said the Dronacharya Awardee a few minutes before the 57kg final at the Mundayad indoor stadium.
In fact, it was as close as it could get. The bout, between the two counter punchers, was a thriller all the way. Sonia, the 2017 World silver medallist, was taller but Sakshi, a triple World champion in the junior and youth categories, appeared stronger.
Sakshi used her left jab to good effect in the opening round and in the next, she virtually stalked Sonia around the ring, putting pressure on her senior.
But Sonia recovered well, threw some hard left jabs and followed it up with a couple of right hooks. In the end, she won the championship's most-awaited bout with a 3-2 verdict.
Jyoti Gulia prevails in tough encounter
Meanwhile, the young Jyoti Gulia won a tough encounter against Ritu Grewal in a bout which appeared to turn a bit ugly at one stage. Ritu adopted a no-holds-barred strategy, even throwing some illegal punches, in the 51kg final.
In the end, Jyoti, the 2017 World youth champion who adopted an inside fighting strategy, won a unanimous verdict and a gold in her maiden senior National.
“When I saw her semifinal, I realised that she was using a lot of foul punches, using the inside part of her gloves, and thankfully the referee was good, he noticed it and warned her in the first and second rounds. That made my job easy, I mostly went for inside punches and won,” said the 19-year-old Jyoti.
The victory will offer her a chance to fight against six-time World champion M.C. Mary Kom in the Boxing Federation of India's trials, for the Olympic qualifiers, which will be held in Delhi later this month.
The results (finals):
Light flyweight (48kg): Monika (Rly) btK. Bina Devi (Pol) 5-0.
Flyweight (51kg): Jyoti Gulia (Rly) bt Ritu Grewal (Har) 5-0.
Bantamweight (54kg): Meenakumari Devi (Pol) bt Meenakshi (Rly) 4-1.
Featherweight (57kg): Sonia Chahal (Rly) bt Sakshi Chaudhary (Har) 3-2.
Lightweight (60kg): Pavitra (Rly) bt Shashi Chopra (Har) 3-2.
Light welterweight (64kg): Pwilao Basumatary (Rly) bt Ankushita Boro (Asm) 3-2.
Welterweight (69kg): Lalita (Raj) bt Meena Rani (Rly) 5-0.
Middleweight (75kg): Nupur (Har) bt K.A. Indraja (Ker) 4-1
Light heavyweight (81kg): Bhagyabati Kachari (Rly) Shaily Singh (UP) 5-0.
Heavyweight (above 81kg): Kavita Chahal (Pol) bt Anupama (Har) 5-0.
Team championship: 1. Railways (53 pts), 2. Haryana (30), 3. Police (29).
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