Jamuna Boro, Borgohain through to quarterfinals of Women’s World Boxing Champs
Both Indians recorded unanimous victories in their respective bouts.
A day after MC Mary Kom won her bout against Thailand’s Jutamas Jitpong, Indian boxers were on top of their game at the 2019 AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships in Russia’s Ulan-Ude, as both Jamuna Boro and Lovlina Borgohain prevailed with unanimous victories in their respective matches to advance to the quarterfinals.
Boro impresses
Coming off the back of an impressive 5-0 victory in her previous bout, Jamuna Boro was high on confidence when she took on fifth seed Ouidad Sfouh of Algeria in the bantamweight (54kg) category.
The Indian started the bout well, with her rapid reflexes causing problems to the Algerian.
Boro primarily boxed on the counter, waiting for her opponent to commit to a punch before launching a counter attack.
The second round was a little less aggressive, but the young Indian still found her mark to leave her opponent looking a little tired by the time the third round came along.
Boro though was still on her toes, popping punches seemingly at will.
Her margin of victory was no surprise, with four of the five judges scoring it 30-27 in her favour.
Surviving a scare
In the welterweight (69kg) category, Lovlina Borgohain came out on top in a closely contested bout against Oumayma Belahbib of Morocco.
Throughout the bout, Borgohain used her superior reach to good use to keep her opponent at bay.
The Indian though did have to overcome a late scare.
The Moroccan managed to get Borgohain on the canvas in the final round, but the referee deemed it by way of a slip on the Indian's part rather than a punch.
After emerging unscathed, all five judges scored it in favour of Borgohain after a classy performance.
She now faces sixth seed Karolina Koszewska of Poland in the next round on Thursday (October 10) while Boro takes on Belarusian Yuliya Apanasovich, also scheduled for the same day.