New Delhi: Indian pugilists Minakshi and Preeti secured semifinal berths and guaranteed multiple medals for the country in their competition debut at the ASBC Asian Elite Boxing Championships in Amman, Jordan.
Minakshi (52kg) faced the four-time Southeast Asian Games medallist, Philippines’ Irish Magno in the quarterfinals. The Indian boxer started strongly, landing a flurry of punches and asserting her confidence from the beginning.
Being sharp and nimble-footed, she maintained her consistency throughout the game and won the bout 4-1.
Similar to Minakshi, Preeti (57kg) also produced a spirited performance against Turdibekova Sitora of Uzbekistan. The 2021 Asian Youth Boxing champion sustained her balance of strong offence and deft defence till the end to ensure a 5-0 unanimous victory.
Minakshi will face Mongolia’s Lutsaikhan Altantsetseg while Preeti will take on Japan’s Irie Sena in the semifinals on November 9, the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) informed in a release on Saturday.
In the other quarterfinal bouts, Sakshi (54kg) suffered a 0-5 defeat at the hands of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Hsiao-Wen Huang of Chinese Taipei and bowed out of the competition.
Late on Friday night, Ananta Chopade (54kg) booked his place in his quarters with a commanding 5-0 win over Japan’s Tanaka Shogo while Etash Khan (60kg) suffered a 2-3 defeat in a hard-fought game against Thailand’s Khunatip Pidnuch.
Later on Saturday night, the 2022 World Championships bronze medalist Parveen (63kg) and 2020 Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain (75kg) will kick off their campaigns against Dariga Shakimova and Valentina Khalzova respectively.
Seven Indians including 2022 CWG bronze medallist Mohammed Hussamuddin (57kg) and 5-time Asian medallist Shiva Thapa (63.5kg) will be contesting in the quarterfinals of the tournament on Sunday.
The other pugilists in action will be Govind Sahani (48kg) Ananta Chopade (54kg), Amit Kumar (67kg), Monika (48kg) and Simranjit Kaur (60kg).
Simranjit, the 2018 World Championship bronze medallist is making her comeback and will be facing the Asian Games gold medallist and two-time Asian gold medallist Yeonji Oh of Korea.
The competition is witnessing the participation of 267 boxers from 27 top boxing nations.
(IANS)
