Nikhat, Lovlina, Saweety & Nitu punch their way into semis

NEW DELHI: Tournament favourites Nikhat Zareen and Lovlina Borgohain lived up to expectations as they secured medals for India with quarterfinal wins, alongside two other home boxers at the ongoing Women’s Boxing World Championships here on Wednesday.

Competing in new weight classes, reigning champion Nikhat (50kg) eked out a 5-2 win over Thailand’s Chuthamat Raksat to secure her second world’s medal and then Lovlina (75kg) added a third medal in her kitty with a 5-0 win over Adosinda Rady Gramane of Mozambique.

Apart from the duo, Commonwealth Games champion Nitu Ghanghas (48kg) and the seasoned Saweety Boora (81kg) also moved to the semifinals.

For India, however, it was a roller coaster day as four pugilists -- Sakshi Choudhary (52kg), last edition’s bronze medallist Manisha Moun (57kg), CWG bronze medallist Jaismine Lamboria (60kg) and Nupur Sheoran (+81kg) failed to move to the last four stage.

While Sakshi lost to Yu Wu of China 0-5, Manisha was outplayed by a 1-4 margin by Amina Zidani of France.

Like last year, Jaismine faltered in the quarterfinal stage once again, falling 0-5 to Colombia’s Paola Valdez.

Nupur went down fighting to Lazzat Kungeibayeva of Kazakhstan 3-4 after a bout review. Nikhat had to dig deep to get a favourable decision against two-time world championships bronze medallist. She attacked cautiously in the first two rounds hitting clean punches.

The Indian used her left-right hands in tandem to pummel her experienced opponent in the first two rounds but became a little subdued in the final round as the bout was sent for review.

Nikhat will face Rio Olympics bronze medallist Ingrit Valencia of Colombia in the semifinals.

Lovlina, who has endured a rough patch since winning the Olympics bronze, put up a much better performance than her previous round as she controlled the proceedings.

The first Indian to take the ring, 22-year-old Nitu notched up a second-round RSC (referee stops contest) win over Madoka Wada of Japan in her quarterfinal bout. Nitu looked a bit tentative at first but as the seconds ticked, she gained confidence and attacked her opponent.

Halfway through the first round, Nitu, the 2022 Strandja Memorial gold medallist, moved forward and threw a combination of clean, accurate punches to force the referee to give Wada her first standing count.

Another set of punches by Nitu in the second round compelled the referee to stop the contest and rule the result in the home boxer’s favour.

Nitu has won all her three bouts in the tournament so far by RSC verdicts. “I had to be careful and couldn’t be aggressive because she (Wada) was also a southpaw like me, but then towards the end (of the contest) I thought I could attack,” Nitu said after the bout.

“The advantage of winning all my three bouts by RSC is that in the coming bouts, my opponents will be under pressure,” she said.