Sanamacha Chanu wins gold at Elite Boxing
Source: Chronicle News Service
Imphal, December 26 2022:
Living up to their favourites tag, Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Lovlina Bor-gohain and the reigning world champion Nikhat Zareen registered contrasting victories to clinch the titles while Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) lifted the team trophy with ten medals at the 6th Elite Women s National Boxing Championships here on Monday.
Manipur's young boxer Sanamacha Thokchom Chanu, who won gold medal at the 2021 Youth World Championships, also put up an impressive show to secure the title in the 70kg by beating Madhya Pradesh's Shruti Yadav 3-2 in the thrilling final.
While the Assam boxer Bor-gohain beat Arundhati Choudhary of Services Sports Control Board (SSCB) quite comfortably by 5-0 margin in the 75kg final, Zareen faced a stiff challenge from RSPB's Anamika in the 50kg gold medal match before the 26-year-old Telangana pugilist tilted the match 4-1 in her favour to successfully defend her title.
Players received the medals in the presence of Sports minister Anurag Singh Thakur along with the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) officials.
Another highlight of the day was Manju Rani, who led the domination of RSPB on the final day.
The 2019 World Championships silver medallist handed RSPB its first gold after outpunching Tamil Nadu's S Kalaivani 5-0 in th e 48kg final.
Shiksha (54kg), Poonam (60kg), Shashi Chopra (63kg) and Nupur (+81kg) were the other gold medallists for RSPB, who also bagged three! silver and two bronze medals.
Madhya Pradesh, with one gold, two silver and five bronze, and Haryana (two gold and two bronze) claimed second and third position respectively.
Haryana's Manisha (57kg) and Saweety (81kg), SSCB's Sakshi (52kg), Madhira Pradesh's Manju Bamboria (66kg) also clinched gold medals in their respective categories at the prestigious tournament which witnessed participatiori of 302 boxers fighting in 12 categories.
Apart from Sanamacha Chanu, the other Manipuri pugilists who took part in the Championship included Tingmila Doungel, H Ashalata Devi, M Rosemary, Th Ojibala Devi, H Ambeshori Devi, Sovi Jajo, Bindiya Naorem and Alena Thounaojam.
The team coaches are Ch Bijeta Devi, N Sanigita Devi and W Hambi Devi while L Jipson Singh accompanied the squad as the manager.
( with input from IANS ) .