Pinki Rani, Sonia progress from second-round bouts

Sonia beat Doaa Toujani of Morocco, while Pinki Rani triumphed over Armenian Anish Grigoriayan in her 57kg bout.

Pinki Rani (red) beat former World youth champion Anush Grigoriayan in a 51kg second-round bout.

Pinki Rani, arguably one of the underachievers who hit the headlines in the past for her intense rivalry with Mary Kom, displayed her controlled aggression to tame former World youth champion Anush Grigoriayan in a 51kg second-round bout on another fruitful day for India in the World women's boxing championships at the Indira Gandhi Stadium Complex here on Saturday.

Sonia warded off a strong challenge from Moroccan boxer Doaa Tujani to win her 57kg second-round match 5-0, while Simranjit Kaur beat Amelia Moore of the USA 4-1 in a 64kg first round bout.

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It was Pinki, a 2014 Commonwealth Games silver-medallist, who impressed all with her 4-1 victory over Armenian Anush.

The 28-year-old made a cautious start amidst exchange of blows and refrained from going too close to her opponent in the following rounds. Without getting flustered by the Armenian's power-packed blows, Pinki mixed her head and body shots well in the second round and rained punches, including a fine right hook, in the final.

“Since my rival was attacking, I worked on the coaches' ínputs and boxed from a distance. It's my third World championships (after 2012 and 2014) and I am keen to gift my countrymen a medal this time,” said Pinki.

Pinki will take on English boxer Alice Jones, who beat Andrea Llanos of Spain 5-0, in the round of 16.

The day started for India with Sonia's win over Doaa. The duel began with the Morrocan showing aggression and the home boxer maintaining some distance and scoring through clear punches.

The Moroccan resorted to some rough tactics, but the Indian did not lose her composure and stuck to her 'defence first' strategy.

Doaa tried to bridge the gap with Sonia and land punches in the final round, while the latter did well to avoid the damage and reply with well-directed combinations to progress to the pre-quarterfinals.

“The coaches boosted my confidence by saying that I am the best. The plan was to focus on my defence,” said 21-year-old Sonia.

Sonia, a former national champion from Haryana, will meet Stanimira Petrova, a 54kg World champion in 2014, in the third round. The Bulgarian defeated American Rianna Rios 5-0.

Simranjit landed some spectacular punches on Amelia to win the battle of equals. She will meet Megan Reid of Scotland in the next round.