GANDHINAGAR: The 2020 Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist boxer Lovlina Borgohain walked into the ring amidst loud cheers here at the Mahatma Mandir, Gandhinagar on Wednesday. Flanked by former World Championships medallist Shiva Thapa, Lovlina was getting ready for her first round bout when former Worlds bronze medallist Jamuna Boro, seated at the stands with the state contingent, shouted in Assamese which literally translated as 'you can beat her with one hand'.
She was absolutely right as Lovlina, who is returning from a nose injury, started with a flurry of punches that connected right on Bihar's Nishi Bhardwaj's face, forcing the referee to stop the 75kg category bout inside two minutes of the first round. Nishi's short frame didn't help her cause either.
In the other bouts, Commonwealth Games bronze medallists Jaismine Lamboria and Mohammed Hussamuddin also registered convincing victories to advance to the next round of their respective weight categories at the ongoing 2022 National Games. In the women's 60kg category bout, Haryana's Jaismine dominated Telangana's Manasa Matterparthi in a unanimous 5-0 verdict.
Telangana’s Hussamuddin, representing Services, also recorded a 5-0 unanimous win against his Uttar Pradesh opponent Satish Kumar. Speaking after his win, Hussamuddin said, "There was little time to specially prepare for the National Games, as we had the trials for the Asian Championship on September 15 and 16. The trials were organised soon after the CWG because of the National Games."
Hussamuddin was in Belfast, Northern Ireland training with other Indian boxers for the CWG when he was blessed with a daughter back home. Desperate to meet her, he first wanted to win a medal for the newborn at the Birmingham event. And he did exactly the same as the boxer returned with a bronze medal. "I spent quite some time with my daughter before the trials last month."
He admitted that he played safe in the first round to preserve energy for the upcoming challenges. "It was a relatively easier opening bout today (Wednesday), but we have two big names in Rohit Mor (Delhi) and Sachin Siwach (Haryana) in the same category. The competition level will heat up from here on," he added.
Rohit, who was also in action in the featherweight (57kg) category, came back from a sluggish start in the first round to register a 4-1 victory over Maharashtra's Rushikesh Goud.
Three gold for TN in squash
Tamil Nadu squash players won three gold, a silver and a bronze medal on Wednesday. Sunayna Kuruvilla staged a dramatic comeback to win the women's singles gold. Urvashi Joshi of Maharashtra won the first two games 11-9 and 11-7 but Sunayna found her rhythm to turn the final on its head. She conceded just 13 points in winning three games to clinch the gold.
In an all-TN final in the men's singles, Abhay Singh beat Velavan Senthilkumar 11-2, 11-6, 9-11, 11-8 to finish on top. Earlier, Harinder Pal Sandhu, who had lost to Senthilkumar in the semifinal, was guaranteed a bronze medal.The state players also won the men's team event defeating Maharashtra 2-0 but their women counterparts could not repeat the feat as they went down 0-2 against Delhi in the summit clash.