When Jaismine Lamboriya walked out for the final of the Women’s 57 kg category at the World Boxing Championships, she was up against one of the best in the weight class.
Poland’s Szermeta Julia is the silver medallist from the 2024 Paris Olympics and started on the front foot by winning the first round 3-2.
“We told her to take the lead in the first round. She tried and we thought she had it but the judges ruled 2-3 in the favour of the Polish boxer,” Indian coach D Chandralal told The Indian Express.
The early setback forced Jaismine to be more aggressive in the second round. “We told her that she needs to start attacking from the first minute in order to come back into the contest,” said Chandralal. “She landed a good number of clean scoring blows and the second round ended 5-0 in our favour.”
It was a turnaround for Jaismine, who has a history of losing bouts after winning the first round or going inexplicably defensive. But she didn’t give Julia any opportunity.
Now with a gold, Jaismine carries a similar target on her back that boxers like Nikhat and Lovlina have had to deal with for years. (Photo: World Boxing)
With a lead to preserve in the final round, the Indian was told to just move around while capitalising on her height advantage. “She was asked to keep moving and that’s what she did. Move and attack when there is an opening to maintain a slight edge in the final round,” explained the coach.
He also pointed at the gamesmanship resorted to by his Polish counterparts to throw Jaismine off her game.
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“When Jasmine was scoring, the Polish coaches were also clapping as if their boxer was scoring points. They were trying to misguide Jaismine but she kept a cool head and played with patience,” Chandralal said.
Solid campaign
Jaismine has clearly been the best Indian boxer at the World Championships. She dominated an Olympic category defeating an Olympic medallist. It was not just the wins, but also the way she won. All four of her wins before the final were by unanimous decisions.
“She played really well in an Olympic category. The Polish boxer is the current Olympic silver medallist and before that, Jaismine defeated Venezuela’s Alcala Segovia, an Olympian, in the semi-finals. Earlier, it was the second seed Brazilian Romeu Jucielen in the second round. She defeated most of the boxers by a 5-0 margin,” said Chandralal. “Getting a gold medal in the Olympic weight category and defeating all the opponents by unanimous point verdict. All credits to her.”
India can have another World Champion, but in a non-Olympic category, when Minakshi Hooda takes on Nazym Kyzaibay of Uzbekistan in the 48kg final later on Sunday.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
