Boxers at Day 1 of the tourney on Friday. Picture by Srinivas

Jamshedpur, Oct. 2: Jharkhand had a bad start on the opening day of the 10th Senior National Women’s Boxing Championship as young pugilist Dimple lost to her Delhi counterpart.

Dimple who made her debut in the senior nationals looked out of place against Arti in the 46kg weight category at the JRD Tata Sports Complex.

Arti began the first round with some solid jabs that mostly thudded against the head gear of her rival. Though the Jharkhand lass appeared to have regained her composure after first two rounds, Arti proved to be too tough for her. She moved swiftly around the ring, a tactic which made Dimple look out of place.

Home support failed to raise the tempo of Dimple’s game as she lost in the next two rounds. Arti won comfortably with a 20-2 scoreline.

In the other bouts, P. Norosha of Andhra Pradesh floored Chandigarh’s Hardeep in the first round itself while Krishna Thapa of Madhya Pradesh beat Karnataka’s Manorama 20-4.

Altogether 28 bouts of different weight categories were lined up for the evening.

Earlier, the championship was inaugurated by R.K. Agarwal, the deputy commissioner of East Singhbhum while Tata Steel vice-president and chairman of the organising committee Partho Sengupta and senior officials of the Indian Boxing Federration (IBF) were present on the occasion.

The proceedings, which was supposed to be staged on the basketball courts, was shifted to first-floor corridor of the venue as rains lashed the steel city throughout the day.

About 400 boxers from 32 states and two boards (Police and Steel Plant) are participating in the meet organised by Tata Steel in association with Steel Plant Sports Board.