Sarita makes grand international comeback
SHILLONG: Pugilist L Sarita Devi made a grand comeback to the international stage knocking out her Bangladesh opponent Akter Saki in less than 40 seconds at the 12th South Asian Games here on Saturday.
Just a couple of seconds into the bout, Sarita delivered a straight punch, rattling her opponent. Sarita landed a flurry of punches soon after, prompting the referee to call for TKO twice and eventually the opponent succumbed in Round 1 to ensure a grand comeback for the Indian boxing star.
Talking to media persons after the bout, a visibly relieved Sarita once again thanked the people of the country for rallying behind her during the one-year ban period.
Meanwhile, the home boxers thoroughly dominated the quarterfinal round with all of them making the cut to the semis.
However, in a disappointment to the crowd that turned up, MC Mary Kom was handed a bye to the semis and hence was not seen in action.
The Indian campaign started with L Devendro Singh knocking out his Bhutan opponent 3-0 in the light fly (46-49 kg) category. Devendro dominated throughout with his agile moves, good footwork and left jabs.
The next to make it to the semis was the popular Shiva Thapa who beat Nepal’s Dinesh Shreshtha 3-0 in the Bantam (56 kg) category.
Thapa went into the attack right from the word go and thoroughly dominated the bout against the less experienced opponent. He signed off with a right hook and two straight punches much to the delight of the crowd. Youngster Vikas Krishnan did not disappoint either. The pugilist romped into the semis with a Round 1 TKO for his opponent in the middle (75 kg) category.
In the second session of the day, Madan Lal beat his rival 3-0 in the fly weight (52 kg) category to make it to semis while Dheeraj got the better of his Bhutan rival by the same margin in the light (60 kg) category to make it to the round of four. Mandeep Jangra signed it off in style for India beating Pakistan’s Arshad Hussain 3-0.
Later both Pooja Rani and Sarita Devi handed over TKOs to their respective opponents to end the day in style.
It was a disappointing day for the Pakistan side however, as its women team debutant Khoushneem Banu could not proceed to the semis.
Meanwhile, five-time world champion MC Mary Kom who got a first round bye will now face Bangladesh’s Shamina Akter in the semifinal of the 51kg women’s category on Sunday.