World Boxing Championships: India's Manju Rani enters final, Jamuna Boro settles for bronze

Image Credits: Twitter/@KirenRijiju

After star boxer Mary Kom settled for a bronze, India's Manju Rani on Saturday assured herself of at least a silver medal at the ongoing Women's World Boxing Championships by booking her place in the final of the 48 kg category with a win over Thailand’s Raksat Chuthamat in Ulan-Ude, Russia.

Manju, who is making her maiden appearance in the event, defeated Chuthamat by a 4-1 verdict in a thrilling semi-final bout of the tournament. 

Earlier, Rani had defeated top-seeded Kim Hyang Mi of North Korea by the same margin in the quarter-final of the women's 48kg event to assure herself of a maiden World Championships medal. 

Rani will now fight for a gold medal in the all-important final bout on Sunday. 

Meanwhile, Jamuna Boro--another Indian in the fray--settled for a bronze medal after losing her semi-final fight against Huang Hsiao-Wen of Chinese Taipei in the 54 kg category.

Boro, who defeated  Ursula Gottlob of Germany in the quarter-final, played most of her semi-final bout cautiously and on the backfoot while Huang Hsiao-Wen showcased her experience to emerge victorious with an unanimous 5:0 verdict.

India's Lovlina Borgohain, on the other hand, also settled for a bronze medal after suffering defeat against China’s Yang Liu in the 69kg category in a 2:3 split decision. The judges' score read 29-29, 29-28, 27-30, 29-28, 28-29 in favour of Yang Liu.

Earlier in the day, Indian star boxer Mary Kom had to content with a bronze medal at the ongoing Women's World Boxing Championships after going down against Busenaz Cakiroglu of Turkey in the semi-final bout of the 51 kg category.

The 36-year-old, who had earlier became the only women boxer to have clinched eight world championship medals by making it to the semi-final, slumped to a 1-4 defeat against European champion Cakiroglu in a split verdict to bow out of the tournament

However, third-seed Kom had appealed against the judges' decision to hand the win to Busenaz Cakiroglu, ANI reported. 

Notably, it is also Kom's first World Championships medal in the 51kg flyweight category--the one chosen for 2020 Olympics in Tokyo-- and not in her general weight category of 48kg.