Glasgow, July 30: Experienced Laishram Sarita Devi and young Pinki Jangra assured India of at least two bronze medals after reaching the semifinals of the women’s light (57-60kg) and 51kg boxing competition respectively in the 20th Commonwealth Games, here today.
The 32-year-old from Manipur came from behind to outsmart Charlene Jones of Wales 3-1 in a hard-fought quarterfinal bout. She will next take on Mozambique’s Maria Machongua in the semifinals on Friday.
Pinki, who had beaten Olympic bronze medallist Mary Kom in the national trials to make it to the Indian CWG team, outclassed her Papua New Guinea opponent Jacquiline Wangi in a unanimous 3-0 decision by the judges in the semifinal bout.
In men’s 69kg division, young Indian boxer Mandeep Jangra also assured himself of a bronze in his debut Commonwealth Games by advancing to the semifinals after his opponent failed the medical test ahead of their quarterfinal bout.
The Asian Championships silver-medallist, who has won two rounds so far in the event, will now be up against the winner of the clash between Canadian Custio Clayton and Northern Ireland’s Steven Donnelly.
The 21-year-old, a protege of former Commonwealth Games gold-medallist Akhil Kumar, was declared the winner after his rival, Daniel Lewis of Australia, failed to get the doctor’s clearance to fight due to a cut above his eye sustained during the pre-quarterfinals.
In another quarterfinals of men’s 91Kg category, India’s Amritpreet Singh suffered a 0-3 loss to Stephen Lavelle of Scotland.
In the women’s light (57-60kg) quarterfinals, Sarita was lagging behind after the first round as Jones started the proceeding with a perfect 10 from each of the three judges.
But the Indian soon got her act together as she outwitted the Wales pugilist 30-27 in the second, before edging her out by an identical margin of 29-28 in the third and fourth rounds to bring joy to the Indian camp. (PTI)
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