Dominant Lovlina reaches quarterfinals of Elite Women's National Boxing Championships

Bhopal, Dec 23 (IANS) Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain put up a dominating display to enter the quarterfinals of the 6th Elite Women's National Boxing Championships, registering a resounding victory in Bhopal on Friday.

Living up to the expectations, the Assam pugilist made light work of Puja Nayak from Odisha in the 75kg last-16 stage match. Lovlina's relentless attack and powerful punches proved too strong for her opponent as the reigning Asian champion was declared the winner by Referee Stops the Contest (RSC) verdict after just a few minutes into the first round of the bout.

Meanwhile, the 2016 World Championships silver medallist Sonia Lather of Railways Sports Promotion Board also made her way into the 57kg quarterfinals after she was given a walkover by Karnataka's Divyani.

Tamil Nadu's S Kalaivani was the other pugilist to secure the last-eight berth as she outperformed Swati Arya of Rajasthan by a 5-0 margin in a 48kg pre-quarterfinal contest.

Rajasthan's Arshi Khanam and Jhalak Tomar also produced dominating performances to make progress into the quarterfinals with identical 5-0 wins in their respective matches. While Khanam beat Uttar Pradesh's Ice Prajapati in the 54kg bout, Tomar (50kg) thrashed Assam's Kampi Boro comfortably.

For Haryana, Kalpana emerged victorious in the 50kg category by 5-0 against Maharashtra's Janhavi Waghmare.

Rajni Singh (48kg) and Rinky Kishore (50kg) were the boxers from Uttar Pradesh to progress into the quarter-finals. Rajni beat Punjab's Suvidha Bhagat 5-0 without breaking a sweat whereas Kishore claimed an RSC win against Kavitha Paravada of Andhra Pradesh.

The ongoing prestigious event has been witnessing the participation of 302 boxers, competing across 12 weight categories. The quarterfinals will be played on Saturday.