New Delhi, May 31: The defending champion Pooja Rani took down Mavluda Movlonova of Uzbekistan with her dominating performance 5-0 and clinched her second successive gold at the ASBC Asian Boxing Championships on Sunday night in Dubai.
During the match, Pooja's clinical punching skills and tactic skills put pressure on the Uzbek boxer Movlonova. Her relentless attacks made it hard for Movlonova to stage a fightback against her. She sealed the gold medal win with a 5-0 scoreline. Pooja also earned $ 10,000 for her striking one-bout performance,
After winning the championship Pooja says that she is thrilled after winning the gold. She said that this tournament will help her prepare for the Olympics.
She had earlier won the gold medal in 2019 in the 81 kg category. She had also bagged the bronze in 2015 and silver in 2012 at the Asian Boxing Championships in the middleweight category. Rani has already qualified for the Tokyo Olympics later this summer.
However, six-time world champion Mary Kom (51kg), and tournament debutants Lalbuatsaihi (64kg) and Anupama (81+kg) ended with second-place finishes. All three lost tightly-contested bouts and fetched themselves prize money of USD 5,000 along with the silver medals.
Kom went down to Kazakhstan’s Nazym Kyzaibay in a split 2-3 verdict, winning her seventh medal in the tournament. The Manipuri boxer’s total is now at five gold and two silver medals, of which the first was gold back in the 2003 tournament.