National women's boxing championship: Patience pays for Pavitra

Pavitra negotiated a flurry of punches from opponent Heena Tokas earlier in the bout before making the most of her opportunities to counter-attack.

Pavitra defeated Heena in a bout during the fourth edition of the Elite National women's boxing championship .(Representational Image)

Heena Tokas opened with a wild flurry of punches and continued that streak for a major part of her lightweight bout against the Railway's Pavitra in the fourth Elite National women's boxing championship at the Mundayad indoor stadium in Kannur on Tuesday evening.

But the seasoned Pavitra, a former Asian silver medallist who had been to the Worlds a few years ago, waited patiently, waited for openings and when they came, she landed some strong punches on Delhi's former junior international Heena. The Railway boxer had a better reach and could land punches that mattered and hold her guard when Heena's hits came her way.

“I felt the third round turned the bout in my favour,” said the 32-old Pavitra after the 4-1 verdict. “This is the first time I'm fighting her.”

Meanwhile Kerala's Seethal Shaji, also tall and wiry, appeared to struggle a bit early against Maharashtra's Rutuja Devkar. But midway through the bout, Seethal produced a couple of hard ones that forced the referee to give Rutuja a standing-eight count twice and a little later stop the contest.