National women's boxing: Shashi Chopra to face Sonia Lather in final

Shashi Chopra defeated defending champion Sonia in the 57kg semifinal to set up a summit clash with Sonia Lather.

Shashi Chopra defeated Sonia to enter the final of the 54-57kg final on Thursday.

World youth champion Shashi Chopra understood the value of experience when she got the better of defending champion Sonia by the skin of her teeth in a 57kg semifinal bout in the National women's boxing championship at the Rajiv Gandhi Sports Complex here on Thursday.

Shashi's experience of facing a similar boxer, Vietnamese Hung Do in the final of the World youth championship in Guwahati in November, helped her as she beat Sonia 3-2 to be in the final on her debut in the Nationals. The waiting game between the two counter-punchers was an intriguing affair as it provided the suspense as to who would make the first move. Sonia, who moved from Haryana to Andhra Pradesh, maintained her composure to invite the opponent into her trap. However, Shashi resisted the temptation to stay safe. The youngster landed some accurate left shots and ducked nicely to evade Sonia's attacks. “I knew it would be a tough bout. Facing a counter-puncher is never easy whether it is the World youth championship or the Nationals. My left worked well for me,” said Shashi, who would meet Asian championship silver medallist Sonia Lather in the final. Young Haryana girl Ritu showed her big heart as she upset former World junior champion Nikhat Zareen 4-1 in a close 51kg contest. Ritu closed the gap to neutralise Nikhat's blows and cleverly delivered punches to set up a title clash with former World youth champion Sarjubala Devi.  

The results (semifinals):

48kg: Monika (Har) bt Bina Devi (Man) 5-0, Rajesh Narwal (RSPB) bt Varsha Choudhery (UP) 5-0. 51kg: Sarjubala Devi (Man) bt Meenakshi (RSPB) 4-1, Ritu (Har) bt Nikhat Zareen (Tel) 4-1. 54kg: Manisha (Har) bt Shavinder Kaur Sidhu (Pun) 3-2, Meena Kumari (AIP) bt Jamuna Boro (Asm) 5-0. 57kg: Sonia Lather (RSPB) bt Sandhya Rani (AIP) 5-0, Shashi Chopra (Har) bt Sonia (AP) 3-2. 60kg: L. Sarita Devi (AIP) bt Monika (Har) 5-0, Pavitra (RSPB) bt Priyanka Choudhery (Utk) 5-0. 64kg: Pwilao Basumatary (RSPB) bt Poonam (AIP) 5-0, Simranjit Kaur (Pun) bt Pravish Chanu (Man) 4-1. 69kg: Lovlina Borgohain (Asm) bt Heena Tokas (Del) 4-1, Pooja (RSPB) bt Memthoi Devi (AIP) 5-0. 75kg: Pooja Rani (Har) bt Rumi Gogoi (RSPB) 3-2, Alari Boro (Asm) bt K.A. Indraja (Ker) 5-0. 81kg: Kalawanti (Har) bt Nirmala Rawat (AIP) 3-2, Bhagyabati Kachari (RSPB) bt Salam Ibemcha Devi (Aru) 5-0. 82kg: Kavita Chahal (AIP) bt Anupama (Har) 5-0, Seema Poonia (RSPB) bt Lalfakmawii Ralte (Miz) 5-0.