NEW DELHI: Nitu Ghanghas (48kg), Saweety Boora (81kg), Nikhat Zareen (50kg) and Lovlina Borgohain (75kg) put in outstanding performances to secure India four medals at the World Women’s Boxing Championships after reaching the semi-finals on Wednesday.
Commonwealth Games champion Nitu, who was the first Indian to step into the ring, recorded a second round victory in the RSC (referee stoppage contest) over Madoka Wada of Japan in the quarter-finals.
Nitu will face defending Asian champion and silver medalist from last year’s World Championships Alua Balkibekova of Kazakhstan in what will be a rematch of the quarter-finals of last year’s World Championships.
Top seed Saweety confirmed her second world championship medal after beating 2018 bronze medalist Viktoriya Kebikava of Belarus 5-0. She had won the silver medal in 2014.
Nikhat continued his successful title defense by recording a hard-fought 5-2 victory on points after the bout was re-watched against two-time World Championship bronze medalist Chuthamat Raksat of Thailand.
The two pugilists were at the top of their game and gave everything to emerge victorious from this fight which ended on the wire. However, it was the 26-year-old Indian who used her superior technical ability to edge past her Thai opponent and claim victory.
Lovlina (75kg) added a third world medal to her prize pool with a 5-0 victory over adosinda Rady Gramane of Mozambique. Lovlina, who has endured a tough time since winning the bronze medal at the Olympics, put on a much better performance than her previous round as she controlled the proceedings.
“Yes, today’s fight was stressful but I won by split decision, so I’m really happy to have got a medal for my country, and in the future I will also win the gold medal My strategy today was to win in the first 2 I won both rounds but from 3:2 in each so in the last round I looked to play long range but there was a lot of melee so my body got a bit tired all the fights i had so far have been powerful but for me it was a good experience to keep going and beat them so hopefully that I will continue to move forward like this and fight for my country.” Nikhat said after the fight.
Nikhat will face Rio Olympics bronze medalist Ingrit Valencia of Colombia in the semifinals.
Meanwhile, two-time junior world champion Sakshi Chaudhary (52kg) and 2022 world championships bronze medalist Manisha Moun (57 kg) fought in the quarterfinals despite their best efforts. While Sakshi lost 0:5 to Wu Lu of China, Manisha lost 1:4 to Amina Zidani of France and withdrew from the competition.
2020 Olympics bronze medalist Irma Testa (57kg) of Italy also secured her spot in the semi-finals after beating Jucielen Romeu of Brazil 5-0. The Italian who won silver at last year’s World Championships seemed determined to do better this time around and proved it with her outstanding performance.
The ongoing prestigious event sees the participation of 324 boxers, including several Olympic medalists, from 65 countries battling for the titles in all 12 weight classes. The tournament has a huge prize pool of Rs 20 crore.
Commonwealth Games champion Nitu, who was the first Indian to step into the ring, recorded a second round victory in the RSC (referee stoppage contest) over Madoka Wada of Japan in the quarter-finals.
Nitu will face defending Asian champion and silver medalist from last year’s World Championships Alua Balkibekova of Kazakhstan in what will be a rematch of the quarter-finals of last year’s World Championships.
Top seed Saweety confirmed her second world championship medal after beating 2018 bronze medalist Viktoriya Kebikava of Belarus 5-0. She had won the silver medal in 2014.
Nikhat continued his successful title defense by recording a hard-fought 5-2 victory on points after the bout was re-watched against two-time World Championship bronze medalist Chuthamat Raksat of Thailand.
The two pugilists were at the top of their game and gave everything to emerge victorious from this fight which ended on the wire. However, it was the 26-year-old Indian who used her superior technical ability to edge past her Thai opponent and claim victory.
Lovlina (75kg) added a third world medal to her prize pool with a 5-0 victory over adosinda Rady Gramane of Mozambique. Lovlina, who has endured a tough time since winning the bronze medal at the Olympics, put on a much better performance than her previous round as she controlled the proceedings.
“Yes, today’s fight was stressful but I won by split decision, so I’m really happy to have got a medal for my country, and in the future I will also win the gold medal My strategy today was to win in the first 2 I won both rounds but from 3:2 in each so in the last round I looked to play long range but there was a lot of melee so my body got a bit tired all the fights i had so far have been powerful but for me it was a good experience to keep going and beat them so hopefully that I will continue to move forward like this and fight for my country.” Nikhat said after the fight.
Nikhat will face Rio Olympics bronze medalist Ingrit Valencia of Colombia in the semifinals.
Meanwhile, two-time junior world champion Sakshi Chaudhary (52kg) and 2022 world championships bronze medalist Manisha Moun (57 kg) fought in the quarterfinals despite their best efforts. While Sakshi lost 0:5 to Wu Lu of China, Manisha lost 1:4 to Amina Zidani of France and withdrew from the competition.
2020 Olympics bronze medalist Irma Testa (57kg) of Italy also secured her spot in the semi-finals after beating Jucielen Romeu of Brazil 5-0. The Italian who won silver at last year’s World Championships seemed determined to do better this time around and proved it with her outstanding performance.
The ongoing prestigious event sees the participation of 324 boxers, including several Olympic medalists, from 65 countries battling for the titles in all 12 weight classes. The tournament has a huge prize pool of Rs 20 crore.
