Guwahati: Pinki Jangra emerged as the new national champion with a dominating victory over N Tonibala Chanu of Arunachal Pradesh while her team Railways bagged the team's title at the senior women's national boxing championship, which concluded on Thursday. Having beaten her biggest challenger for the title, Van Lal Duati in the quarters, the 22-year-old dynamo easily claimed the top podium finish with a 14-point margin win in the fly weight division.
It was Pinki's maiden gold medal at nationals in eight appearances. "The gold medal took a long time coming, I came very close on a few occasions in past and lost it in the end. Now that I have won it, it seems is every bit worth the wait. I am extremely happy with my performance over the last five days and the win has given me a lot of confidence as well. I look forward to the national camp now," she said.
However, the bout of the day came in the middle weight division with Arafura Games silver medallist Pooja Rani of RSPB prevailing 16-7 over 2012 Asian Games bronze medallist Kavita Goyat of Haryana. Both boxers threw in a lot of punches in the first round but it was Goyat, a veteran in the sport, who nosed ahead with a 1-0 lead.
In the second though, Rani came back strongly with some heavy hitting. Goyat still held the lead (5-4) midway through the bout, but seemed to be losing advantage. Beginning of the third round the tables turned in favour of the Railways boxer, she started to dominate the game with her cracking jabs and three punch combination.
A warning for Goyat worked in favour of Rani, by the end of the third round she was leading 11-6 and the writing was on the wall. Railways boxers Pavitra in the feather weight division and Meena Rani in the light welter weight division also clinched the gold beating their respective opponents.
While Pavitra, a 2010 Asian Championship bronze medallist beat Youth World Championship bronze medallist Pwilao Basumatary (20-11), 2011 Arafura Games silver medallist Meena drubbed Suman of the All India Police (21-14). In the light fly weight division, last years bronze medal winner Mamta continued her winning streak defeating Rebecca Lalinmawii 15-9.
The 22 year old put up sterling performance to get the better of the feisty Mizoram boxer. She won on points 15-9. Her exceptional performance in the tournament also gained her the title of the best boxer of the championship. "My strategy was to go slow and pick up pace in the second round, things played out according to my plan and helped me pick up my first senior nationals gold," she said.
2012 World Championship bronze medallist Chahal (+81kg) of the All India Police team, did have to throw a single punch to win her sixth national title. The 27 year old won the gold medal by virtue of walk over.
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