Bridgetown: Former champion L Sarita Devi's triumph in the opening round of the flyweight (51kg) category was the lone bright spot on a largely disappointing day for Indian boxers at the sixth Women's World Championships.
Sarita defeated Russia's Alexandra Kuleshova 11-8 in a pulsating contest on Friday.
An aggressive Alexandra was proving to be quite a handful for Sarita but the 25-year-old Indian dug from experience to be 2-1 ahead after the first two minutes.
The Indian held on to the slender lead in the second round as well finishing 3-2.
But Alexandra nosed ahead in the third round to lead 7-6 before Sarita roared back by going all out in the final round to notch up the win.
Sarita will now face Yazici Sumeyra of Turkey on Sunday.
"I worked very hard to reach my present level of fitness.
I have never played against this Russian boxer and I am glad that I could put it through," she said after the win.
India had a disappointing day as far as the other three boxers were concerned.
In 64kg opening round, Pratibha Jakhar was out-classed by American Jackson Cashmere in the first round itself.
In 69kg, Kavita Goyat was unlucky to lose 4-7 to Andrea Strohmayer of Germany. At the end of the first round, both the boxers were tied at 1-1 and Kavita was 2-1 ahead in the second.
But Strohmayer made it 3-2 in the third round before wrapping it up in her favour in the fourth round.
In 75kg, Aswathy Mol lost 1-5 to Sagaydakovskaya Inna of Russia.
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