Saritha to take on Suman in the finals of 51kg class

Thrissur: Former World champion L Saritha Devi of Manipur stormed into the finals by defeating Suman of Haryana 12-5 in the semi-finals of the 51 kg class in the 11th Women National Boxing Championship on Thursday. Saritha, displaying good tactics got into her stride and scored points rather comfortably before winning to set up a title bout with Lali Mawii of Mizorm, who had defeated Daljeet Kaur of Punjab in the other semifinal with a score of 3-0. In 54 kg class semifinal, the crowd witnessed an even contest between Geeta of Delhi and Sushma Kumari of Railways. Experienced Sushma, who has been in the boxing arena right from the start of the women boxing from 2001 onwards, went down to Geeta, who had never won any medal in national meets with a score of 2-4. Geeta in the finals will face youth national gold medalist Sonia of Haryana. In 60 kg Chhoutu Loura of Railways,a former bronze medalist in two world championships, went down to defending champion Meena Rani of Uttar Pradesh, after being level at 4-4. and Meena Rani of UP. Chhoutu,who was away from boxing rings for the last two years, began strongly and was leading in all the departments, but in the dying seconds of the last round Meena Rani equalised the score and the bout ended 4-4. However, on the basis of the judges verdict Meena Rani has been declared as Winner. PTI