CHENNAI: The two, L. Sarita Devi and M.C. Marykom, have a lot of similarities. Both hail from Manipur, are reigning world champions in their respective categories. And both have been recruited as Inspector of Police in Manipur. Moreover, the two train together.

While Marykom is not taking part in the 11th SRM Federation Cup boxing championship at the SRM University Campus at Kattankulathur near here as she is expecting a child, Sarita is having ‘good sparring sessions in the tournament’ as she chose to put it.

On Thursday, Sarita dispatched off Ambika (RSPB) in the women’s feather weight category to ease in to the final.

Within minutes of the first round against the RSPB opponent, the referee had to stop the contest due to the head injury Ambika incurred.

In the short time, Sarita was at the ring, she was quick, counter-attacked with compact precision. In the final on Friday, Sarita will lock horns with Pavithra (Haryana). Pavithra outclassed Mamta Dahiya (Delhi).

Neck and neck

Sushma Kumari of RSPB edged out local lass G. Parveen of Tamil Nadu in the semifinals of the light bantam section. It was a neck and neck contest till the final round.

Trailing in the first round, Parveen fought back landing lot of jabs and punches and led 11-7 in the penultimate round.

Sushma was focused, kept landing a lot of jabs while receiving a few. What went against Parveen was the two injury counts she received in the final round, and moreover she seemed tired, and couldn’t force the pace.

With the score at 17-15 and few second left for the contest to end, the referee gave the verdict in favour of Sushma.

Interesting bouts

In another interesting lightfly category semifinal, that had the spectators glued to their seats, Manwar Husain (RSPB) defeated local hope D. Rajesh 18-17. Inder Kumar Singh (Jharkhand) scored an upset 13-9 win over J. Sandeep (RSPB) in the bantam weight category.

Meanwhile, late in the evening, heavy rain forced the organisers to put a halt to the proceedings. They plan to have an early start on Friday — the final day.

The results (semifinals):

Women: lightfly: Kalpana (RSPB) bt Ritu Ranga (Har) 15-1; Kanaka Durga (AP) bt K. Mandakini Chanu (Man) 12-8; light bantam: Y. Uma Rani (AP) bt Basanti Chanu (Man) RSC (OC); Sushma Kumari (RSPB) bt G. Parveen (TN) RS C (OC); feather: Pavithra (Har) bt Mamta Dahiya (Del) RSC (OC); L. Sarita Devi (Man) bt Ambika (RSPB) RSC (H); light welter: Rinky Singh (AP) bt A. Gomatheshwari (TN) RSC (OC); Suman (Har) bt Ashwathi Prabha (RSPB) 1 0-7; light middle: Ashwaty Mol (RSPB) bt Rachna Yadav (Har) RSC (OC); Ashla Thomas (Ker) bt M. Eswari (TN) RSC (OS).

Men: lightfly: Ravinder Sani (RSPB) bt Satpal Singh (Del) 12-6; A. Naobamettei (SSCB) bt S. Narendra Dev (Jha) 20-17; welter: Gurudev Singh (SSCB) bt Sukhvinder Singh (Jha) RSC (OC); Surender (Har) bt S. Gurushankar (TN) RSC (OS); light heavy: Naresh (Har) bt Hardeep (Chd) RSC (OS); Manoj Kumar (SSCB) bt Fateh Singh (Jha) 46-40; lightfly: M. Zawhly (SSCB) bt Ravinder Tanwar (Har) 17-12; Manwar Husain (RSPB) bt D. Rajesh (TN) 18- 17; bantam: Komal Yadav (SSCB) bt S. Gopi (TN) 16-5; Inder Kumar Singh (Jha) bt J. Sandeep (RSPB) 13-9