A “fatigued” Nikhat Zareen continued her winning run to enter the quarter finals along with two other pugilists at the Women’s World Championships here on Tuesday.
Nikhat saw off Mexico’s Patricia Alvarez Herrera 5-0 to notch her third win of the tournament.
Commonwealth Games champion Nitu Ghanghas (48kg) won her bout with a first round Referee Stops Contest (RSC) against Sumaiya Qosimova of Tajikistan, while last year’s bronze medallist Manisha Moun (57kg) got the better of Nur Elif Turhan of Turkey when the referee ruled in her favour in the third round.
Jaismine (60kg) came from a round down to overpower Mijgona Samadova of Tajikistan.
Shashi Chopra (63kg), however, went down 0-4 to Mai Kito of Japan. Nikhat took a few seconds to decipher her opponent’s game plan before attacking. She used her nimble feet to duck away from Herrera’s counter attacks.
Nikhat used her speed to land accurate jabs and hooks.
Nikhat, who has already played three bouts, said she is feeling fatigued.
“I still have some fatigue from my last round as it was against the top seed. It was tough and her punches landed pretty well so my neck was a little tight and my body a little slow compared to my last bout. But I am happy that I won unanimous this time.”
Eight Indian pugilists — Nitu, Nikhat, Sakshi Choudhary (52kg), Manisha, Jaismine, Lovlina Borgohain (75kg), Saweety Boora (81kg) and Nupur Sheoran (+81kg) — will compete in the quarter finals on Wednesday.
Nitu registered her second RSC win in as many bouts in the tournament.
Both Nitu and Qosimova tried to figure out each other’s game, but then the Indian connected four straight jabs which forced the referee to give the opponent her first standing count.
Nitu continued her onslaught as she cornered the Tajikistan pugilist and pummelled her with straight jabs.
The referee gave Qosimova her second standing count before calling the contest in the Indian’s favour much to the disappointment of her opponent, who kept showing the thumbs down gesture when the result was called.
