Indian pugilists S Sarjubala (48kg) and Saweety (81kg) faltered at the final hurdle to settle for silver medals, rounding off a decent campaign for the country in the 8th World Women's Boxing Championships, here today
Jeju (Korea): Indian pugilists S Sarjubala (48kg) and Saweety (81kg) faltered at the final hurdle to settle for silver medals, rounding off a decent campaign for the country in the 8th World Women's Boxing Championships, here today.
Sarjubala lost to world No 3 Nazym Kyzaibay of Kazakhstan, who also happened to be a bronze-medallist from the previous World Championships.
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Saweety, on the other hand, lost to Yang Xiaoli of China, to also settle for a silver medal. India thus managed to improve its performance from a bronze in the previous edition to a couple of silvers this time.
In the first summit clash of the day, Sarjubala was off the blocks aggressively and even though Kyzaibay displayed some well-timed counter-punching, Sarjubala managed to get the opening round unanimously.
The Kazakh, however, staged a recovery in the second round and targetted the Indian's body to slow down the pace of the bout and draw level.
In the third round, Sarjubala came out firing on all cylinders but struggled to connect her punches. Kyzaibay was quick on her feet and was impressive when it came to taking evasive action.
In the decisive fourth round, both the boxers took a step back and waited for the other to make the first move. However, the cautious approach worked to the world number three's advantage. Kyzaibay was on target with her combination blows and was unanimously chosen the winner.
Later, Saweety tried to unsettle her much taller rival by going all out in the opening round itself. But the Chinese was far from affected and threw in some telling combination punches to push Saweety on the backfoot.
The nimble-footed Yang took full advantage of her long range and controlled the second round, relying mostly on straight jabs.
Saweety, on the other hand, looked out of sorts once her plan to be aggressive failed to click. The Indian's foot movement was distinctly average and that affected her defence as well.
The Haryana-girl improved quite a bit in the third and fourth round but an unfazed Yang held on to the upper hand in defence besides landing the occasional right hooks to keep the scoreboard ticking in her favour.
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