Guwahati: Four Indian boxers including Olympic medalist Lovlina Borgohain, won their individual quarterfinal matches on Wednesday at the World Women’s Boxing Championships at the K D Jadhav Hall in Delhi to guarantee themselves a medal.
Four Indian fighters qualified for the semifinal round thanks to Lovlina and World Champion Nikhat Zareen’s leadership throughout the quarterfinal rounds.
The pugilist from Assam, Lovlina (75 kilograms) secured her third Worlds medal, while Nikhat (50 kilograms), Saweety Boora (81 kilograms) are set to claim their second gongs each. Nitu Ghanghas (48 kilograms) would have bagged a maiden medal from the Worlds.
On the other hand, Sakshi Chaudhary (52 kilograms), Manisha Moun (57 kilograms), Jaismine Lamboria (60 kilograms) and Nupur Sheoran (+81 kilograms) had to suffer losses.
Lovlina Borgohain defeated Mozambique’s Worlds bronze medal winner Rady Gramane 5-0 in a very physical contest. Despite taking some hits herself she was able to keep a decent distance and use her counterpunches throughout the match. She will now compete against Chinese Li Qian, a previous world champion and two-time Olympic medallist.
In another match, Chuthamath Raksat a two-time Worlds bronze medalist was defeated by Nikhat Zareen by a razor-thin margin. After the “bout review,” she advanced to 5-2. Nikhat, a 52 kilos World Champion had plenty of experience to defeat her opponent. She made shot after shot to maintain a 3-2 advantage over her Thai opponent in the opening two rounds.
She will now compete against Olympic medallist and world champion from Colombia, Ingrit Valencia.
Moreover, Nitu the Commonwealth Games champion defeated two-time Worlds bronze medalist Madoka Wada of Japan to complete a remarkable hat-trick of RSC victories. Nitu will again compete against Asian Champion and Worlds silver medalist Alua Balkibekova of Kazakhstan in a rematch of the quarterfinal match from the previous competition.
After a nine-year absence, Saweety who received a bye defeated the massively built former bronze medalist from the World Championships in Belarus, Viktoriya Kebikava by 5-0. She will now compete against Emma-Sue Greentree of Australia.