Riding on spectacular performances, star Indian pugilists Nitu Ghanghas, Nikhat Zareen and Saweety Boora registered thumping victories to substantiate no less than three medals for India on the Mahindra IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships by advancing to the semi-finals on the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex on Wednesday. Squaring off in opposition to the two-time Worlds bronze medallist Madoka Wada of Japan, the 2022 Commonwealth Games champion Nitu (48kg) secured a scintillating win with the Referee Stops Contest (RSC) verdict within the second spherical of the bout. With an attacking strategy from the phrase go, the 22 12 months previous hardly needed to break a sweat in opposition to the veteran Japenese and was in full management of the bout.
“I’ve been in a position to apply 100% apply of my apply within the ring thus far and going into the following match I really feel good I’ve gained all my three bouts by RSC. She (Maduko) is a southpaw similar to me and as this was my first time within the match going through a southpaw, I needed to pay full consideration and assault. I used to be on the counter from the primary spherical however I really feel like I ought to have performed a bit extra attacking and I’ll attempt to try this in my subsequent bout. (After the defeat in final version’s quarters) I felt that since is the match occurring in India this 12 months with the house assist consistently backing us, I gained’t let the medal slip away this time,” stated Nitu after the bout.
The Indian will now tackle the reigning Asian champion and final 12 months’s World Championships silver medallist Alua Balkibekova of Kazakhstan in what shall be a rematch of final 12 months’s World Championships quarter finals.
Nikhat continues to shine __
3__rd medal assured for __ _
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— Boxing Federation (@BFI_official) March 22, 2023
Following Nitu’s victory, Nikhat (50kg) efficiently continued her title defence by recording a hard-fought 5-2 win on factors after the bout was reviewed in opposition to the two-time World Championships bronze medallist Chuthamat Raksat of Thailand. Both pugilists had been on the high of their recreation and gave it their all to emerge victorious on this bout that went proper down the wire. However it was the 26 12 months previous Indian who utilized her superior technical skill to edge out her Thai opponent and are available out on high with the win.
“Yes, today’s bout was stressful but I won by a split decision so I am really happy that I secured a medal for my country, and going forward I’ll win the gold medal too. My strategy today was to win in the first 2 rounds and then play around in the last. I won the 2 rounds but from 3:2 in each so in the last round, I aimed to play from a long range but there was a lot of clinching so my body got a little tired. All the bouts I have had till now were powerful but for me, it’s been a good experience to keep moving forward and defeating them so hopefully I will keep moving forward like this and fight for my country.” stated Nikhat after the bout.
Nikhat will face Rio Olympics bronze medallist Ingrit Valencia of Colombia within the semi-finals.
Contrary to Nikhat, the three-time Asian medallist Saweety (81kg) recorded a dominating 5-0 win in opposition to the 2018 World Championships bronze medallist Viktoria Kebikava of Belarus. In what was her first match of the match, the skilled pugilist from Haryana was extraordinarily assured all through the bout and landed sturdy, correct punches to seal the win. She shall be going up in opposition to Emma-Sue Greentree of Australia in her subsequent bout.
“The boxer from Belarus (Viktoria) is a very good fighter with a world medal to her name and with both of our strengths including uppercuts being similar, I knew that I will have to fight till the very end. I was a bit tired towards the last round but I kept going for my coach who was constantly motivating from the ringside and my family in the audience, all of whom had high hopes from me. My next bout will definitely be better than this one as I always get better with the number of matches that I play,” commented Saweety after her bout.
THROUGH THE LENS _
Nikhat’s sensational win from Quarter-finals __ _
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— Boxing Federation (@BFI_official) March 22, 2023
Meanwhile, the two-time World Youth champion Sakshi Chaudhary (52kg) and the 2022 World Championships bronze medallist Manisha Moun (57kg) went down combating within the quarter finals regardless of their greatest efforts. While Sakshi misplaced 0:5 in opposition to Wu Lu of China, Manisha misplaced 1:4 in opposition to Amina Zidani of France and bowed out of the competitors.
The 2020 Olympics bronze medallist Irma Testa (57kg) of Italy additionally secured her place within the semi-finals after beating Jucielen Romeu of Brazil with a 5-0 scoreline. The Italian who gained silver ultimately 12 months’s World Championships regarded decided to raised that this time spherical and proved it together with her stellar efficiency.
Later tonight, the Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain (75kg), the 2022 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Jaismine Lamboria (60kg) and Nupur Sheoran (+81kg) will all take to the ring for his or her respective quarter-finals bouts.
