Nikhat, Lovlina, Saweety, Nitu punch their way into semis, four medals assured

New Delhi, March 22

Favourites Nikhat Zareen and Lovlina Borgohain lived up to expectations as they secured medals for India with quarterfinal wins in the Women’s World Championships here today.

Nikhat (50kg) eked out a 5-2 win over Thailand’s Chuthamat Raksat, while Lovlina (75kg) beat Mozambique’s Adosinda Rady Gramane 5-0. Commonwealth Games champion Nitu Ghanghas (48kg) and the seasoned Saweety Boora (81kg) also moved to the semifinals.

Sakshi Choudhary (52kg), last edition’s bronze medallist Manisha Moun (57kg), Jaismine Lamboria (60kg) and Nupur Sheoran ( 81kg) failed to advance. While Sakshi lost 0-5 to Yu Wu of China, Manisha was outplayed by a 1-4 margin by Amina Zidani of France.

Like last year, Jaismine faltered in the quarterfinal stage, falling 0-5 to Colombia’s Paola Valdez. Nupur went down fighting 3-4 to Lazzat Kungeibayeva of Kazakhstan after a bout review.

Nikhat, who won the world title in the 52kg category last year, had to dig deep to get a favourable decision against the two-time World Championships bronze medallist. She attacked cautiously in the first two rounds, hitting clean punches. “I aimed to play from a long range but there was a lot of clinching so my body got a little tired,” Nikhat said after securing her second World Championships medal.

Lovlina, who has endured a rough patch since winning the Olympics bronze, put up a much better performance than her previous round as she controlled the proceedings. Lovlina secured her third medal of the event after having won two bronze medals in the 69kg category in the previous editions.

Unstoppable Nitu

Nitu notched up a second-round RSC win over Madoka Wada of Japan. Nitu looked a bit tentative at first but as she gained confidence the

22-year-old went on the attack. Halfway through the first round, Nitu threw a combination of punches to force the referee to give Wada her first standing count. Another set of punches by Nitu in the second round compelled the referee to stop the contest.

“The advantage of winning all my three bouts by RSC is that in the coming bouts, my opponents will be under pressure,” said Nitu.

Saweety, playing her first bout of the tournament, lived up to her top seeding to dispatch former bronze medal winner Viktoriya Kebikava of Belarus 5-0 to confirm her second World Championships medal. She had won silver in 2014.