NEW DELHI: MC Mary Kom stole all the limelight on Saturday. Rightfully so.
The seasoned star showed age is just a number. But there were three other Indians who showed a glimpse of the future. Sonia Chahal went down fighting to settle for silver, while Lovlina Borgohain and Simranjit Kaur won bronze. Manisha Moun had also shown a lot of guts before going down in the quarters. The fact that this was their first Worlds only makes it more impressive.
It was a rich learning experience for all. In Sonia’s case, her inexperience was evident on Saturday. Her opponent from Germany was far superior throughout, landing some telling blows. On more than one occasion, Sonia was on the ropes. Credit to her for actually standing her ground and showing some fight. “I was running out of energy towards the end,” Sonia, who lost 1-4, later revealed.
Boxing Federation of India (BFI) chief Ajay Singh hailed their performances. “They did very well. We should be lauding them. They need that experience. All the experts who were with me felt that it was a very close bout. They are still work in progress. If they get more experience, they can become world beaters.”
Sonia was so unknown to everyone that many media persons were confusing her for namesake Sonia Lather, 2016 silver medallist. Now, this Sonia has certainly made herself known to the world after matching Lather’s performance.Simranjit and Lovlina’s run had ended in the semis, but not before give a strong account of themselves. Both had beaten more-famed boxers to earn a medal. The latter, who hails from Assam, said that she will take a lot from this experience.
“It was my first experience. It was such a big event. It was great to see some of the top boxers up close. I managed to learn a great deal,” Lovlina said.More importantly, this experience has instilled belief in Lovlina, who had earlier won gold in Indian Open. She also has ambitions of winning a medal in the Olympics.
“I got to learn where we stand at the moment. Now, I have got some awareness on how to go about our training. More importantly, now I know that we are no less and we can go toe-to-toe against some of the top boxers,” the 21-year-old said.
In the build-up to the event, the youngsters had spent some quality time during the camp with the likes of Kom and L Sarita Devi. “During training itself, we had managed to learn a lot from the seniors. And now, to stand beside Mary is a proud moment for us,” Sonia said.