Lather falls in final, settles for silver

Astana (Kazakhstan), May 27 

Haryana boxer Sonia Lather settled for a silver medal in the 57kg category at the AIBA Women’s World Championships after going down to top-seed Alessia Mesiano of Italy in a hard-fought summit clash here today. The lone Indian boxer to make the medal round, Lather lost 1-2 but her silver ensured that India did not return empty-handed from what was a thoroughly disappointing campaign overall.

The 24-year-old got off the blocks confidently and rattled Mesiano in the opening round with her precisely-placed combination punches.

However, the Italian, who was a bronze-medallist in the previous edition, kept her composure and counterattacked in the next three rounds. Lather, a former Asian Championships silver-medallist, found it tough to manoeuvre after Mesiano started engaging her from close range, leaving very little room for the Indian to unleash her jabs.

Lather could not counter Mesiano’s tactics and was caught by surprise when the Italian landed some telling straight punches and upped the tempo in the last two rounds. 

Her medal apart, India turned in a disappointing performance at the championships; the team returned home without a gold medal for the third successive edition. India’s last gold at the prestigious tournament came in 2010 when Mary Kom won the yellow metal in the 48kg category for her fifth world title.

Mary Kom (51kg), who was christened ‘The Magnificent Mary’ by the world body for her feats at the tournament, could not go beyond the second round this time. Besides, none from the country could qualify for the Rio Games in the three Olympics categories of 51kg, 60kg and 75kg.

In the 2014 edition in South Korea, India had won two silver medals through Sarjubala Devi (48kg) and Saweety (81kg), both of whom lost in the quarterfinals this time. — PTI