Lovlina, Parveen, Alfiya, Minakshi Storm Into Asian Boxing C'ship Finals

The 2020 Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain, 2022 World Championship bronze medallist Parveen along with competition debutants Alfiya Pathan and Minakshi all produced power-packed performances to secure their place in the finals of the 2022 ASBC Asian Elite Boxing Championships in Amman, Jordan on Wednesday.

Lovlina (75kg) was up against Seong Suyeon of South Korea in her semi-final bout. Right from the beginning, Lovlina effectively utilized her clever techniques and strategies to capitalize on her opponent to clinch a 5:0 victory by unanimous decision, as per a press release from the Boxing Federation of India (BFI).

Throughout the three rounds, the Assam-born boxer displayed her immense strength and superior technical qualities to overpower the South Korean and gave her no chance to make a comeback in the game.

Lovlina, who has two Asian Championships bronze medals to her name is now guaranteed a silver in this edition, confirming her best-ever performance in the competition.

Accompanying Lovlina, Alfiya Pathan (81+kg), Parveen (63kg) and Minakshi (52kg) were equally commanding in their respective semi-final wins as they dominated their bouts in the 5:0 wins by unanimous decision.

Similar to her dominance in the previous bout, Parveen bossed her semi-final matchup against Uranbileg Shinetsetseg of Mongolia and the 2019 South Asian Games champion confirmed her berth in the final with yet another mighty and confident showing.

Alfiya was facing the 2016 World Champion Lazzat Kungeibayeva whom she has now defeated twice this year. The 2021 Youth Boxing World Champion stunned the Kazakh on her own turf in the 2022 Elorda Cup final to secure gold in her senior international debut competition.

Minakshi, on the other hand, was up against the 2021 Asian Championships bronze medalist Lutsaikhan Altantsetseg of Mongolia and the Rohtak born boxer hardly had to break a sweat in her comfortable victory.

The release said all four boxers will give it their all to bring gold to the country as Lovlina will take on the 2021 Asian Championships silver medalist Ruzmetova Sokhiba, Alfiya will go head to head with Islam Husaili of Jordan while Minakshi and Parveen will take to the ring against the Japanese duo of Kinoshita Rinka and Kito Mai respectively in the final.

In the other semi-finals, Ankushita Boro (66kg) and Preeti (57kg) exited the competition after losing to Khamidova Navbakhor of Uzbekistan by 1:4 and 2020 Olympics gold medalist Irie Sena of Japan by 0:5 respectively. Both boxers secured the bronze for their remarkable efforts throughout the tournament.

Later tonight, Saweety (81kg) will all take to the ring for her semi-final bout against Lina Jaber of Jordan.

India's total medal count of 12 in this year's edition of the prestigious tournament is the third highest among all competing nations.

On Thursday, five Indian men boxers including the six-time Asian medalist Shiva Thapa (63.5kg) and two-time Commonwealth bronze medalist Mohammad Hussamuddin (57kg) will be competing in the semi-finals.

The other men pugilists in action will be Narender (92+kg), Sumit (75kg), and Govind Kumar Sahani (48kg).

The competition is witnessing the participation of 267 boxers from 27 top boxing nations.

The final of the tournament for the women's category will take place on Friday and for the men's category will be conducted on Saturday. 

 (With Inputs from ANI)

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