Sarita wins on pro debut

Imphal, January 29 L Sarita Devi comfortably outpunched Zsofia Bedo of Hungary to make a winning start to her professional career in the IBC Fight Night at the Khuman Lampak Stadium here today.  Sarita won the bout by unanimous verdict. The Hungarian was forced to clinch Sarita time and again to escape the flurry of her hooks and punches.  “The Asian Games incident was very painful. I had to erase those sad memories. That was one big factor I decided to turn pro. For any mother to stay away and not to feed her child is the biggest sacrifice. I made that sacrifice for this day,” said Sarita, while hugging her three-year-old son in the ring. Haryana’s Pinki Jangra, 26, beat Claudia Ferenczi of Slovakia 40-36 40-36 40-36. Som Bahadur Poon knocked out his light-heavyweight opponent Manop Siththiem of Thailand in mere four-and-a-half minutes to start his professional career.  In the super welterweight IBC National Champion title bout, Siddharth Verma successfully defended his crown with a technical knockout against Jaganathan. The contest was stopped after Janganathan ruptured his thigh muscle. But the other Indian debutant Vipin Kumar was knocked out by Mubarak Sseguya of Uganda in the third round of their bout. — PTI

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