Monita and Mamta made to sweat

M.R. Praveen Chandran
— Photo: H. Vibhu

TIGHT CONTEST: Monita overcame Sarjubala's challenge in the second round. Thrissur: Hot contenders Monita Devi (Arunachal Pradesh) and Mamta (Bihar) had to sweat it out but defending champion Vanlal Duati had it easy in the second round of the 48kg category in the 11th National senior women's boxing championship at the Lulu International Convention Centre here on Monday.
National junior champion Sarjubala Devi (Manipur) went down fighting to Monita, a silver medallist behind Mary Kom in the 46kg section in the 2008 National championship. Sarjubala, who is taking part in her first senior National, lost the closely-contested bout 0-1.
Not overawed
The Manipur boxer was not overawed by her opponent and it was sheer inexperience which cost Sarjubala a victory. Monita connected with a straight left in the first round, but after that she was busy ducking and weaving out of Sarjubala's punches.
Despite being the aggressor, Sarjubala could not nail the crucial point as Monita used the hit-and-run tactic to good effect in the last three rounds.
Last year's runner-up Mamta found unexpected challenge from Assam's Jahnabi Gogri after leading by a point at the end of the second round. Jhanabi went all out in the third but Mamta managed to evade most of Jahnabi's punches.
Mamta, however, ran out of steam in the fourth round as Jahnabi equalled the scores by connecting with a left hook. The scores were tied 1-1 at the end of that round. However, the judges ruled 3-2 in favour of Mamta.
Defending champion Vanlal had a smooth passage against Khalda Wali of Maharashtra.
The results:
48kg (second round): Monita Devi (Aru) bt Sarjubala Devi (Man) 1-0; Aarti (Del) bt Sarita Vishvkarma (AP) 9-1; Roshni Bhushal (Meg) bt Sharda (Cht) 8-0; Vanlal Duati bt Khalda Wali, RSC; Krishna Thapa (Bih) bt A. Punyavati (AP) 11-2; Mamta bt Jahnabi Gogri (Asm) 3-2.
51kg (second round): Daljeet Kaur (Pun) bt Poonam (Raj) 9-2; P. Nirosha (AP) bt Anajali Chauhan (HP) 8-3; Rebecca Lalimawii (Miz) bt Hema Yogesh (Ker) 10-1; Vinita (Utr) bt Karpagavalli (TN) RSC; Suman (Har) bt Sashi Kiran (MP) 2-0.
57kg (first round): Pavitra (Har) bt Savita Rawat (Delhi) 14-1; Shylaja Reddy (RSCB) bt Anjali Krishnan (Ker) 14-1; Minu Basmatary (Asm) bt Mona Unnikrishnan (Guj), RSC; Margareth Nongrum (Meg) bt Aren Imsong (Ngl) 14-10; Kumari Nisha (HP) bt Roshni Bisht (Utr), RSC; Priyanka Kumari (Jha) bt Uma Maheshwari (AP), RSC .