India’s prime pugilists Nikhat Zareen and Manisha Moun dominated proceedings on Day 4 of the Mahindra IBA Girls’s World Boxing Championships and superior to the pre-quarterfinals after securing equivalent wins by unanimous resolution on the Indira Gandhi Sports activities Advanced 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.
Talking after her stellar victory, Nikhat stated, “My technique at this time was to dominate a little bit from the primary spherical itself as she (Roumaysa) is the highest seed and had a bonus. I’ve by no means performed in opposition to 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 every so often however in the long run, I received so I’m joyful.
Nikhat will now tackle Mexico`s Herrera Alvarez Fatima in what will probably be a rematch of final version’s Spherical of 32 bout between the 2 pugilists.
Much like 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.
Beginning 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.
“Whereas we had deliberate the technique for this bout beforehand, the coaches’ recommendation in between the bout helped me perceive the opposition’s mindset, land my punches completely and preserve my power. I’m right here to combat and really feel nice carrying the load of the nation on my shoulders. I want to thank the superb help from Indians which has been essential in serving to the ladies boxers attain pre-quarters,” stated Manisha.
Manisha will subsequent face Nur Elif Turhan of Turkey within the subsequent spherical.
In the meantime, 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.
One other Olympics medallist, Irma Testa of Italy bought off to a profitable begin on the event as she bought the higher of Reyes Moreno Leilany Noshbet of Guatemala with a 4-1 win within the 57kg class. The highest-seeded Italian who clinched bronze on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics didn’t face a straightforward problem in opposition to her opponent however utilized her supreme technical means to get the job completed.
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. Whereas Lovlina will face Citalli Ortiz of Mexico, Sakshi and Preeti will sq. off in opposition to 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 will probably be taking part in her event opener on Monday as properly.
The continued occasion is witnessing the participation of 324 boxers, together with a number of Olympic medallists, from 65 nations combating for titles in 12 weight classes. The event has a large prize pool of INR 20 crore.
