IBA Women's World Boxing Championships: Nitu, Nikhat, Saweety, Lovlina enter semis; Indian assured of 4 medals

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New Delhi, March 22: Three Indian boxers confirmed medals in the ongoing IBA Women's World Boxing Championships 2023 by winning their respective quarter-final bouts here at Indira Gandhi Sports Complex on Wednesday (March 22).

Continuing her superlative performance, Nitu Ghanghas secured her straight third win by RSC while defending World Champion Nikhat Zareen won by split decision to move to the next round. Saweety Bora was the third Indian boxer to confirm a medal with her win on day seven. While Tokyo Olympics bronze-medallist Lovlina Borgohain also booked her ticket to semis.

Nitu blanks two-time Worlds bronze medallist

The Commonwealth Games 2022 gold medallist Nitu (48kg) secured yet another terrific win via the Referee Stops Contest (RSC) verdict in the second round of the bout against the two-time Worlds bronze medallist Madoka Wada of Japan.

The 22-year-old southpaw once again took an aggressive approach from the word go, and she hardly had to break a sweat against the veteran Japanese. Nitu looked in cruise control in the entire bout and the referee announced her as the winner midway.

"I have been able to apply 100% apply 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. She (Maduko) is a southpaw just like me and as this was my first time in the tournament facing a southpaw, I had to pay complete attention and attack.

I was on the counter from the first round but I feel like I should have played a bit more attacking and I will try to do that in my next bout. (After the defeat in last edition's quarters) I felt that since is the tournament happening in India this year with the home support constantly backing us, I won't let the medal slip away this time," said Nitu after the bout.

The Bhivani-boxer will now take on the reigning Asian champion and last year's World Championships silver medallist Alua Balkibekova of Kazakhstan in what will be a rematch of last year's World Championships quarter-finals.

Nikhat continues to impress

After Nitu, it was Nikhat's turn to impress in front of a frantic audience present in the arena but the poster girl of Indian boxing secured a hard-fought victory by 5-2 on points in the 50 kg category.

The defending champion was adjudged as the winner after the bout was reviewed against the two-time World Championships bronze medallist Chuthamat Raksat of Thailand.

Both pugilists were at the top of their game and gave it their all to emerge victorious in this bout that went right down the wire. Nikhat won the first two rounds 3-2 but received a tough challenge from the Thai pugilist in the final round.

But the 26-year-old Indian utilised her superior technical ability to edge out her opponent and come out on top with the win. Although, the judges took a lot of time reviewing the bouts.

Meanwhile, the result announcement in Ring B adjudged the boxer in the blue corner as the winner and the Thai boxer in Ring A (Nikhat's opponent) broke into an early celebration, only to realise it wasn't her. Even the fans inside the arena were in a state of complete shock, but soon after Nikhat was declared the winner.

Reflecting over her match, Nikhat said, "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."

Nikhat will now face Rio Olympics bronze medallist Ingrit Valencia of Colombia in the semi-finals.

Saweety punches her way into the semis

Contrary to Nikhat, the three-time Asian medallist Saweety (81kg) recorded a dominating 5-0 win against the 2018 World Championships bronze medallist Viktoria Kebikava of Belarus.

In what was her first match of the tournament, the experienced pugilist from Haryana was extremely confident throughout the bout and landed strong, accurate punches to seal the win. She will be going up against Emma-Sue Greentree of Australia in her next 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 me 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.

Lovlina confirms 4th medal

Later in the evening, Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain defeated Adosinda Gamane Rady of Mozambique by unanimous decision in the 75 kg middleweight category to enter the semis. The Assam boxer has confirmed the fourth medal for India in the ongoing tournament after registering a dominating win.

Nupur loses in quarters

In the last bout of the evening, debutant Nupur lost Sheoran to Kazakhstan's Lazzat Kungeibayeva in 81+ kg heavy category by 1-4 and failed to qualify for the semi-finals in the marquee competition.

The game saw both the boxers giving their best in the ring, Nupur tried to put up a challenge with her agility but her opponent made use of her experience to eventually emerge as the winners.

3 more Indian pugilists lose in quarters

Meanwhile, the two-time World Youth champion Sakshi Chaudhary (52kg), the 2022 World Championships bronze medallist Manisha Moun (57kg), and Asian Boxing 2021 bronze-medallist Jaismine (60 kg) lost their respective bouts.

While Sakshi lost 0:5 against Wu Lu of China, Manisha lost 1:4 against Amina Zidani of France and Jaismine lost 0:5 against Columbia's Paula Valdez bowed out of the competition. Valdez came to the quarters by defeating Rio Olympics gold medallist Estelle Mossely in the round of 16.

Meanwhile, the Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Irma Testa (57kg) of Italy also secured her place in the semi-finals after beating Jucielen Romeu of Brazil with a 5-0 scoreline. The Italian who won silver at last year's World Championships looked determined to better that this time round and proved it with her stellar performance.