Nainital: Former Asian Champion Nagisetty Usha clinched one of the two gold medals for Andhra Pradesh, but it was All India Police who walked away with the overall honours in the Monnet Federation Cup Women's Boxing Championship on Sunday.
The All India Police team bagged two gold medals, two silver and and equal number of bronze medals, while Andhra Pradesh took home the runners-up trophy with two gold and four bronze medals. Hosts Uttarakhand claimed the third spot with a gold medal, four silver and two bronze medals.
The day started with the finals of the light flyweight category in which Krishna Thapa of Madhya Pradesh, a silver medalist at the 12th Nationals Championships, lost to Mamta of Manipur. Mamta, who bagged a bronze medal at the Senior Nationals in October this year, proved to be the better boxer on the day and won 29:11 on points. Her superior footwork and hard-hitting punches allowed the 20-year-old to maintain a steady lead throughout the eight minutes of play.
In the flyweight division, Andhra boxer Sonia Lather Singh continued her sublime form as she doused Vinita Mahar of Uttarakhand in a barrage of punches. Singh, a National Championship silver medalist, was in complete control of the bout with her aggressive style of play. She was leading by an 18-point margin in the fourth round when the referee decided to spare Mahar any further agony. Singh went on to claim her second consecutive Federation Cup gold medal in style.
The lightweight category witnessed an enthralling competition between Usha and 2009 National Champion Preeti Beniwal of the All India Police team. Both the boxers started strongly, but Preeti managed to secure a two-point advantage after the first two rounds of play (5-3). But Nagisetty, a two-time silver medal winner at the World Championships and a multiple National Champion, made use of her experience to get back in the game and levelled the score at 13-13. Nagisetty triumphed on count back (40:33) to take the gold.
"It was not an easy bout to win, Preeti fought well. I was looking to conserve my energy and go all out in the last two rounds. My strategy paid off in the end and I am very happy with my performance," said an elated Nagisetty after the gold-medal winning bout.
In another close encounter, defending champion in the light welter-weight class and National Games silver medalist Suman of AIP defeated Monica Saun representing Uttarakhand. Suman saw off a final-round surge from Saun and went on to take the title with a 7:6 win on points.
In the super heavyweight cadre, Kavita Chahal, also representing AIP, clinched the title with easy win over local girl Poonam Vishnoi. The international boxer did not event break a sweat to get past the sluggish defence of her opponent. With this victory she claimed her third consecutive Federation Cup title.
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