Pinki, Monica lose in World Women's Boxing Championships

Jeju, South Korea: On a thoroughly disappointing day for Indian boxers at the World Women's Championships, Commonwealth Games bronze-medallist Pinki Rani (51kg) and Monica Saun (75kg) crashed out after losing their respective bouts here Wednesday.

Pinki Rani, who came in for injured five-time world champion and Olympic bronze-medallist M C Mary Kom, opened the proceedings for India in a second-round contest.

The youngster from Haryana, who has shown promise, found the going tough against her Russian rival Saiana Sagataeva after displaying some spark in the opening two minutes.

The national champion managed to unsettle her rival for some time with a few hard-hitting right jabs and precise blows to the body but failed to maintain the intensity as the bout progressed.

In a draining battle, Pinki lost steam much earlier than expected and was visibly slow in her movement after being knocked down once by Sagataeva in the second round.

Monica was next in the ring, taking on China's Li Qian in her opening bout of the big event and went out without putting in too much of a fight in a rather drab encounter.

Both the boxers spent the better part of the bout trying to get a measure of each other and shied away from attacking.

Qian, however, was more nimble-footed and was impressive on counter-attack against her sluggish Indian rival.