National Boxing Championships: World medallists Manju Rani, Jamuna Boro storm into semi-finals

Railway Sports Promotion Board's (RSPB) boxing star Manju Rani entered the semi-finals in the 48 kg category with a decisive 5-0 win over Punjab’s Minakshai in the 5th Elite Women's National Boxing Championships on Monday.

The 21-year-old Manju, who won the silver medal on debut at the 2019 World Championships, packed power that took her opponent from Punjab completely by surprise, as she had no answers to Manju’s precise punches.

Another boxer making it to the semi-finals of the 48kg category was Tamil Nadu's S Kalaivani, who beat Himachal Pradesh's Jyotika Bisht by a similar margin in the quarter-finals bout.

Read: Men’s World Boxing Championships: AIBA to award champions with belt and solid gold medals

Another star of the day was Assam’s Jamuna Boro, who entered the semi-finals in the 54kg category with a dominating 5-0 win over Gayatri Kasnyal of Uttarakhand.

The 2019 World Championships bronze medallist Jamuna was too quick for Gayatri, who often found herself on the wrong foot while attempting to evade Jamuna’s jabs.

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In the 52kg category, the 2019 Asian Championships bronze medallist Nikhat Zareen of Telengana put up an impressive show against Assam’s Manju Basumatary and made her way into the semi-finals with a comfortable 5-0 victory. Equally powerful was RSPB’s Shiksha in the 54kg category, who outperformed reigning youth world champion Babyrojisana Naorem of Manipur 5-0 to progress into the semis.

In the 50kg category, Punjab’s Komal continued her fine showing and entered the semis after beating Maharashtra's Anjali Gupta 5-0.

The gold and silver medallists will earn themselves a place in the national coaching camp. The remaining two names for the camp in each category will be selected on the basis of performances in the selection trials, which will take place right after the Nationals.

The 5th Elite Women's National Boxing Championships is being hosted by the Boxing Federation of India, in association with the Haryana Boxing Sangh, at the St Joseph’s International School in Hisar, Haryana.