<p class="title">World silver-medallist Sonia Lather (57kg) and Mandeep Jangra were among the finalists but Shiva Thapa (60kg) signed off with a bronze medal in a mixed first semifinal session for India at the Ulaanbaatar Cup boxing tournament in Mongolia on Saturday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Also making the final was Lovlina Borgohain (69kg), a gold-medallist at the India Open earlier this year.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Ending with bronze medals were Shiva and Bina Devi Koijam (48kg), the latter a direct entrant into the last-four stage owing to the small size of the draw.</p>.<p class="bodytext">While Shiva lost a closely-contested bout to home favourite Battumur Misheelt, Bina was out-punched by Korean Kim Kum Sun.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Sonia, a two-time world and Asian championships silver-medalist, defeated Tiantian Zhao of China in a split decision. The Indian looked off-colour in the opening round, which Zhao dominated with her well-connected right hooks.</p>.<p class="bodytext">However, Sonia staged a strong recovery in the second and third rounds, drawing from her huge reservoir of experience to fetch a favourable verdict in the end.</p>.<p class="bodytext">She will face local favourite Tumurkhuyag Bolortuul in the summit clash.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Lovlina, in contrast, dominated from the very start, taking good advantage of her opponent Enkhbaatar Erdenetuya's sluggish foot movement.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The Indian punched at will, her jabs connecting powerfully. The Assam-boxer will square off against Chinese Taipei's Nien Chen Chen in her summit clash.</p>.<p class="bodytext">In the men's draw, Mandeep, a former Commonwealth Games silver medallist, was up against local favourite Tsend-Ayush Otgon-Erdene. The Indian was way superior when it came to hitting impactful punches and was also helped by a warning to Otgon-Erdene for excessive bending.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Shiva, on the other hand, fought out a messy slugfest with Misheelt. The former world bronze-winner and three-time Asian-medallist Indian connected better but could not get the nod from the judges, who were split in their verdict favouring the crowd favourite.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Bina was beaten in a unanimous verdict by Korean Kim Kum Sun, undone by lack of power in her punches and the longer reach of her opponent. </p>
<p class="title">World silver-medallist Sonia Lather (57kg) and Mandeep Jangra were among the finalists but Shiva Thapa (60kg) signed off with a bronze medal in a mixed first semifinal session for India at the Ulaanbaatar Cup boxing tournament in Mongolia on Saturday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Also making the final was Lovlina Borgohain (69kg), a gold-medallist at the India Open earlier this year.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Ending with bronze medals were Shiva and Bina Devi Koijam (48kg), the latter a direct entrant into the last-four stage owing to the small size of the draw.</p>.<p class="bodytext">While Shiva lost a closely-contested bout to home favourite Battumur Misheelt, Bina was out-punched by Korean Kim Kum Sun.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Sonia, a two-time world and Asian championships silver-medalist, defeated Tiantian Zhao of China in a split decision. The Indian looked off-colour in the opening round, which Zhao dominated with her well-connected right hooks.</p>.<p class="bodytext">However, Sonia staged a strong recovery in the second and third rounds, drawing from her huge reservoir of experience to fetch a favourable verdict in the end.</p>.<p class="bodytext">She will face local favourite Tumurkhuyag Bolortuul in the summit clash.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Lovlina, in contrast, dominated from the very start, taking good advantage of her opponent Enkhbaatar Erdenetuya's sluggish foot movement.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The Indian punched at will, her jabs connecting powerfully. The Assam-boxer will square off against Chinese Taipei's Nien Chen Chen in her summit clash.</p>.<p class="bodytext">In the men's draw, Mandeep, a former Commonwealth Games silver medallist, was up against local favourite Tsend-Ayush Otgon-Erdene. The Indian was way superior when it came to hitting impactful punches and was also helped by a warning to Otgon-Erdene for excessive bending.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Shiva, on the other hand, fought out a messy slugfest with Misheelt. The former world bronze-winner and three-time Asian-medallist Indian connected better but could not get the nod from the judges, who were split in their verdict favouring the crowd favourite.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Bina was beaten in a unanimous verdict by Korean Kim Kum Sun, undone by lack of power in her punches and the longer reach of her opponent. </p>