India’s prime pugilists Nikhat Zareen and Manisha Moun dominated proceedings on Day 4 of the Mahindra IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships and superior to the pre-quarterfinals after securing an identical wins by unanimous resolution on the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex on Sunday (March 19).
Being at her razor-sharp finest, Nikhat toppled the highest seed Boualam Roumaysa of Algeria with a 5-0 victory within the 50kg class. The reigning World Champion asserted her dominance over the Algerian from the get-go and landed correct, highly effective punches to have the primary spherical to her title.
The 26-year-old maintained her momentum from the primary spherical in scintillating style and stored her opponent at bay within the subsequent two rounds as properly to earn the win by unanimous resolution.
Speaking after her stellar victory, Nikhat stated, “My technique immediately was to dominate a bit from the primary spherical itself as she (Roumaysa) is the highest seed and had a bonus. I’ve by no means performed towards her earlier than however I’ve seen her bouts beforehand. She is a fighter and he or she will get aggressive if one goes in shut vary together with her so my technique was to play from distance. There was some clinching occasionally however ultimately, I gained so I’m pleased.
Nikhat will now tackle Mexico`s Herrera Alvarez Fatima in what might be a rematch of final version’s Round of 32 bout between the 2 pugilists.
Similar to Nikhat, the 2022 World Championships bronze medallist Manisha (57kg) additionally recorded a 5-0 win by ousting Tina Rahimi of Australia. marking a profitable day on the workplace for India.
Starting on the entrance foot, the 25-year-old pugilist from Haryana was in cruise management all through the bout and gave her opponent no likelihood to make a comeback.
“While we had planned the strategy for this bout beforehand, the coaches’ advice in between the bout helped me understand the opposition’s mindset, land my punches perfectly and conserve my energy. I am here to fight and feel great carrying the weight of the country on my shoulders. I would like to thank the amazing support from Indians which has been crucial in helping the women boxers reach pre-quarters,” stated Manisha.
Manisha will subsequent face Nur Elif Turhan of Turkey within the subsequent spherical.
Meanwhile, the 2016 Rio Olympics bronze medallist Ingrit Valencia (50kg) of Colombia additionally started her marketing campaign with a victory as she defeated Nziva Veronica Mbithe of Kenya with a Referee Stops Contest (RSC) verdict within the second spherical. The embellished Colombian hardly needed to break a sweat in her bout and sealed the win by overpowering her opponent utilizing her immense energy and huge expertise.
Another Olympics medallist, Irma Testa of Italy acquired off to a profitable begin on the match as she acquired the higher of Reyes Moreno Leilany Noshbet of Guatemala with a 4-1 win within the 57kg class. The top-seeded Italian who clinched bronze on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics didn’t face a simple problem towards her opponent however utilized her supreme technical potential to get the job carried out.
On Monday, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain (75kg) together with Sakshi Chaudhary (52kg) and Preeti (54kg) will take to the ring for his or her pre-quarters bouts. While Lovlina will face Citalli Ortiz of Mexico, Sakshi and Preeti will sq. off towards Urakbayeva Zhazira of Uzbekistan and Jutamas Jitpong of Thailand respectively.
The 2018 World Champion Li Qian of China (75kg) who additionally has two Olympics medals to her title might be taking part in her match opener on Monday as properly.
The ongoing occasion is witnessing the participation of 324 boxers, together with a number of Olympic medallists, from 65 international locations combating for titles in 12 weight classes. The match has an enormous prize pool of INR 20 crore.
