Indian pugilists Lovlina Borgohain, Nitu Ghanghas, Nikhat Zareen and Saweety Boora registered thumping victories to confirm four medals for India at the Women’s World Boxing Championships by advancing to the semi-finals at the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex here on Wednesday.
Squaring off against the two-time Worlds bronze medallist Madoka Wada of Japan, the 2022 Commonwealth Games champion Nitu (48kg) secured a dominating win with the Referee Stops Contest (RSC) verdict in the second round of the bout.
With an attacking approach from the word go, the 22-year-old hardly broke a sweat and was in complete control of the bout.
“I have been able to apply 100 per cent of my practice in the ring so far and going into the next match I feel good I have won all my three bouts by RSC,” said Nitu after the bout.
Lovlina added a third World Championship medal to her kitty with a 5-0 win over last year’s World Championships bronze medallist Rady Gramane of Mozambique. She will next take on 2018 world champion Li Qian of China in the semi-finals.
Nikhat (50kg) continued her title defence by recording a hard-fought 5-2 win on points after the bout was reviewed against the two-time World Championships bronze medallist Chuthamat Raksat of Thailand.
The 26-year-old Indian who utilised her superior technical ability to edge out her Thai opponent and come out on top 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,” said Nikhat after the bout.
The defending champion will face Rio Olympics bronze medallist Ingrit Valencia of Colombia in the semi-finals.
Three-time Asian medallist Saweety (81kg) recorded a 5-0 win against the 2018 World Championships bronze medallist Viktoria Kebikava of Belarus.
The experienced pugilist landed strong, accurate punches to seal the win.
Two-time world youth champion Sakshi Chaudhary (52kg) and the 2022 World Championships bronze medallist Manisha Moun (57kg) lost in the quarters. While Sakshi lost to Wu Lu of China, Manisha went down to Amina Zidani of France.
