Sonia Lather settles for silver in Boxing Worlds

Astana, May 27 

India's Sonia Lather settled for the silver after going down to Italian Alessia Mesiano in 57kg category final of the World Women's Boxing Championships here on Friday.

Sonia went down 1-2 after a hard-fought bout against the World No.1 Italian which saw the Indian miss the world champion title by a narrow margin.

Earlier, 24-year-old Sonia thumped Kazakhastan's Aizhan Khojabekova 3-0 to register a memorable triumph in the semi-finals on Thursday.

Sonia's weight category is not part of Olympic programme. Only three weight categories of 51 kg, 60 kg and 75 kg are part of the women's boxing competitions at the Olympics.

However, Sonia's was the only successful story as far as India's participation is concerned, even though India's wait for a woman boxing gold continues as M.C. Mary Kom was the last world champion in 2010.

Earlier in the tournament, Indian boxing was dealt heavy blows as veterans Mary and L. Sarita Devi and Pooja Rani -- all belonging to Olympics categories -- failed to qualify for the Rio Games after losing in their second round.