Assam’s pride and Olympic medalist Lovlina Borgohain was among four Indian boxers who won their respective quarterfinal bouts to ensure themselves a medal in the World Women’s Boxing Championships at the K D Jadhav Hall in Delhi on Wednesday.
Lovlina alongside World Champion Nikhat Zareen led the Indian charge in the quarterfinal rounds to ensure four Indian pugilists remained in contention in the semifinal stage.
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. During her bout, she managed to maintain a good distance and used her counter punches, despite being hit a few times herself. She is now set to face off against two-time Olympic medalist and former World Champion Li Qian of China.
Elsewhere, Nikhat Zareen edged past double Worlds bronze medalist Chuthamath Raksat in an end-to-end bout. She went through 5-2 after ‘bout review’. A World Champion in the 52 kilograms category, Nikhat had bags of experience to see off her opponent. She landed shot after shot to stay ahead of her Thai opponent by an identical margin of 3-2 in the first two rounds. She will now face Colombian World Champion and Olympic medalist Ingrit Valencia.
In addition, Commonwealth Games Champion Nitu made a rare hat-trick of RSC wins as she came up trumps against two-time Worlds bronze winner Madoka Wada of Japan. Nitu will now face off against Alua Balkibekova, Kazakh Asian Champion and Worlds silver medalist in a replay of the previous edition’s quarterfinal bout.
Saweety, who got a bye, fought off against a hugely-built Belarusian former Worlds bronze medalist Viktoriya Kebikava 5-0 to ensure a medal after a nine-year hiatus. She is now set to take on Australian Emma-Sue Greentree.
