World Women’s Boxing C’ship: Manju Rani enters quarters

ULAN-UDE (RUSSIA): India’s Manju Rani (48kg) on Monday advanced to the quarterfinals of the World Women’s Boxing Championships after a comprehensive victory in the

last-16 stage here.

The sixth-seeded Indian prevailed 5-0 over Venezuela’s Rojas Tayonis Cedeno to stand just one win away from securing a medal in her debut at the big event.

However, next up for her is a tough one in last edition’s bronze-medallist and top seed Kim Hyang Mi of South Korea. The two will clash on October

10.

Clean punches were few and far in Rani’s clash against Cedeno but the Indian was the one fetching most of them. Both the boxers stuck to a defensive approach but Rani was the more accurate of the two.

Rani is a silver-medallist from the prestigious Strandja Memorial boxing tournament in Bulgaria earlier this year.

In the second and last Indian bout of the day, Manju Bamboriya (64kg) was up against fourth-seeded Italian Angela Carini.

She put up a spirited fight but the European Championships silver-medallist was just too strong for her.

The Indian went down 1-4 in a split decision.

On Tuesday, six-time champion M C Mary Kom (51kg) will begin her campaign by taking on Thailand’s Jutamas Jitpong in the round of 16. The third-seeded Indian got a bye in the opening round.

In the 75kg division, former silver-medallist Saweety Boora (75kg) will square off against second-seeded Welshwoman Lauren Price.

Price is a European Games gold-medallist and fetched a bronze in the last edition of the world showpiece.

She is also the reigning Commonwealth Games champion besides being a three-time bronze-medallist at the European Championships.