Nikhat Zareen and Lovlina Borgohain on Wednesday performed as expected to assure medals for India by reaching the semi-finals of the Women’s World Boxing Championship. Apart from these two, Commonwealth Games champion Neetu Gangas (48kg) and veteran Sweety Boora (81kg) also reached the last four.
Playing in new weight categories, defending champion Nikhat (50kg) beat Thailand’s Chuthamat Raksat 5-2 to seal her second World Championship medal, while Lovlina (75kg) won 5-0 over Mozambique’s Adosinda Radi Gramane. Did. 22-year-old Neetu from Haryana was the first Indian to step into the ring, defeating Japan’s Madoka Wada in the second round on the basis of RSC (stoppage of contest by referee). In this way he ensured at least one bronze medal for himself and India.
Sweety, playing her first match in the tournament, lived up to her top seeding with a 5-0 win over 2018 bronze medalist Viktoria Kebikawa of Belarus to assure her second World Championship medal. He won the silver medal in 2014. Neetu, playing with full aggression, showered fierce punches on the opponent. The referee stopped the match and gave the decision in favor of Neetu. At the same time, Nikhat will now face Ingrid Valencia of Colombia in the semi-finals, who is the bronze medalist of Rio Olympics.
However, for India, Sakshi Chowdhary (52kg) and last edition’s bronze medalist Manisha Moun (57kg) failed to reach the last four stage. Commonwealth Games bronze medalist Jasmine Lamboria (60kg) and Nupur Sheoran (+81) also suffered defeats.
