Nikhat Zareen one win away from glory

Sofia (Bulgaria), February 8

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Two-time world champion Nikhat Zareen eked out a gritty win while Arundhati Choudhary too won her bout to advance to the semifinals of the 75th Strandja Memorial tournament here today.

The first Indian to take the ring, Nikhat defeated France’s Lkhadiri Wassila by a 5-0 unanimous verdict in the 50kg class.

However, the bout was much closer than the scoreline reflected as both boxers fought neck and neck before Nikhat edged the French pugilist.

It was a close encounter from the go as both looked well-prepared to tackle each other’s moves.

But Nikhat used her quick movements and counter-attacking game to take the first round 3-2.

The second started on a similar note as both the boxers were cautious and didn’t commit much to attacking. Nikhat managed to stay ahead of her opponent, once again taking the round 3-2.

In the third round, Nikhat looked at her best as she dodged Lkhadiri’s attacks efficiently while delivering some quality blows.

Lkhadiri tried to be more aggressive but the Indian was better equipped to deal with it and won the bout.

Nikhat will now meet home favourite Zlatislava Chukanova in the semifinals on Saturday.

In the other match of the day, national champion Arundhati (66kg) dominated Matovic Milena of Serbia in a 5-0 win. She will face Jessica Triebelova of Slovakia in the semifinals. Sakshi (57kg) suffered a 2-3 defeat to Mamajonova Khumoranobu of Uzbekistan to exit the tournament in the quarters.

Late on Wednesday, Deepak (75kg) and Naveen Kumar (92kg) entered the quarterfinals with 5-0 unanimous decision wins over Asankul Uulu Sultan of Kyrgyzstan and Voisnarovic Darius of Lithuania, respectively.

Chennai Open: Mukund enters quarters

Chennai: Wildcard Mukund Sasikumar of India defeated Tunisia’s Moez Echargui’s 7-6(4) 6-3 to enter the men’s singles quarterfinals of the Chennai Open here today. While Sasikumar was the only Indian in action during the day in the singles event, the doubles section saw quite some players of the host nation in the quarters. The top-seeded pair of N Sriram Balaji and Andre Begemann of Germany were stunned 3-6 4-6 by the German duo of Jakob Schnaitter and Mark Wallner. pti