World Boxing C’ship: Manju Rani settles for silver after losing in final

Ulan-Ude Russia: Indian boxer Manju Rani was forced to settle for silver at the Women’s World Boxing Championships after she lost to Ekaterina Paltceva of Russia in the 48kg category final, here on Sunday.

Manju lost the gold-medal bout 1-4 against 2nd seed Ekaterina Paltceva of Russia, however, still she managed to finish as the best Indian performer in this edition.

Earlier on Saturday, Manju had thrashed Chuthamat Raksat of Thailand 4-1 in the semi-finals to become the first Indian in 18 years to do enter the final in his/her maiden appearance at the event.

In the first round, Manju Rani started off slowly and struggled to get past Ekaterina Paltceva’s defence while the Russian was quick on her feet and was regularly connecting her left jabs in the first round.

Rani improved her jabs in the second round and tried to land more punches on her rival. In the third round,  both boxers had a cautious approach.

Meanwhile, both Rani and Paltceva engaged in quite a bit of clinching during the bout and the referee needed to intervene a few times.

In the end, Paltceva showed some sharper reflexes and was declared the winner in front of her home crowd.

With Rani’s silver, India finished their Women’s World Boxing Championships campaign with a silver and three bronze. (UNI)