Nikhat Zareen, Nitu Ghanghas and Manisha Moun marched into the quarterfinals of the IBA Women's World Boxing Championships.
A few Indian stars will have to go through the disappointment of watching all the action from afar.
The impressive show of the Indian pugilists continued at the Asian Games as Vikas Krishan and Manpreet Singh assured themselves of bronze medals in the men's ring and Preeti Beniwal scored a dominating win on the debut day of women's boxing at the mega sports event in Guangzhou on Sunday.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday
Six-time world champion boxer MC Mary Kom feels the new generation of athletes is not hungry enough like her to achieve success and gets satisfied with just one big achievement.
The Haryana-boxer, one of only four Indians with a world championships medal to his credit, launched very few attacks but managed to connect just enough straights to get the judges' nod.
The Indian weightlifting juggernaut continued at the Commonwealth Games, with Sanjita Chanu and Deepak Lather adding a gold and bronze to the team's tally, and the shuttlers and boxers staying unbeaten on the second day, in Gold Coast, on Friday.
Krrish, Ravi enter semis of Asian Youth & Junior Boxing Championships
Nitu (48kg) and Jasmine (60kg) were the others boxers who sealed spots for the quadrennial event, in Birmingham from July 28 to August 8.
In the final, Krrish and Ravi will take on Tajikistan's Anushervon Fazylov and Ilkhomjon Ergashev of Uzbekistan respectively.
Dipika Pallikal and Joshana Chinappa created history by winning the first-ever gold medal in squash but disappointment was in store for the four Indian boxers, including Olympic bronze winner Vijender Singh, who had to be content with a silver each in the 20th Commonwealth Games in Glasgow on Saturday.
Dipika Pallikal and Joshana Chinappa created history by winning the first-ever gold medal in squash but disappointment was in store for the four Indian boxers, including Olympic bronze winner Vijender Singh, who had to be content with a silver each in the 20th Commonwealth Games in Glasgow on Saturday.
'Everyone wants to get involved when there is success.' 'But what about guaranteeing it?' 'Making sure girls have the opportunity to succeed all the time?'
Batting legend Sachin Tendulkar discussed the way forward for L Sarita Devi with Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Wednesday and urged the entire country to support the woman boxer who is facing a possible life ban from the International Boxing Association for refusing her bronze medal at the Incheon Asian Games.
Sakshi notched a 5-0 unanimous decision win against Zhazira Urakbayeva of Kazakhstan to advance to the quarter-finals of the Women's World Boxing Championships
Meet India's top athletes at Olympics 2024.
Where stalwarts like MC Mary Kom failed, Sonia Lather brought home a medal.
Goof-up at World Championships: Russian anthem played incorrectly.
''I want to send my parents for Umrah because Ramazan is going on.'
She couldn't make the cut through qualifiers but star woman boxer M C Mary Kom's Olympic dream is not quite over yet as India has decided to seek a wildcard entry for her in the Games scheduled from August 5 this year. Mary Kom (51kg) had missed out on qualifying for the Olympics after bowing out in the second round of last month's World Championships -- the second and final qualifying tournament for women for the Games. The 33-year-old was required to make at least the semifinals to be assured of an Olympic berth in the mega-event in Astana, Kazakhstan. "She has been a phenomenal athlete and looking at her overall contribution to the sport, we have decided to request for a wildcard for her. However, her application will be among the many that the International Boxing Association (AIBA) will examine before taking a final decision," Chairman of the ad-hoc committee currently running boxing in India, Kishen Narsi, told PTI. Mary Kom, who is called 'Magnificent Mary' by AIBA, is a five-time world champion besides being a bronze-medallist from the London Olympics. The multiple-time Asian champion could not get an Olympic quota place in either of the two qualifying events for women boxers and is keeping her fingers crossed for a wildcard.
Nikhat notched up an easy 5-0 win over South Korea's Chorong Bak in the second round of the women's event.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Tuesday
India's boxer Monika handed a shock defeat to the two-time world championships medallist Josie Gabuco of Philippines to enter the women's 48kg semi-finals at the 2022 Thailand Open International Boxing tournament in Phuket on Monday.
Vanshaj was also beaten 0-5 by Yernur Suyunbay of Kazakhstan in his summit clash.
Jeswin Aldrin, who had already qualified for the championships, however missed the cut.
Mary Kom wants Asian Games to be her swansong
Nikhat registered a dominating 5-0 victory, thrashing Thailand's Jitpong Jutamas without breaking a sweat in the 52kg final with judges scoring the bout 30-27, 29-28, 29-28, 30-27, 29-28 in the Indian's favour.
Indian pugilist Sonia Lather was assured of a medal in the 57kgs at the AIBA World Women's Boxing Championship, only the colour had to be decided on Friday in a thrilling final in Astana, Kazakhstan.
Mary Kom is expected to be back in action at the World Championships to be held in New Delhi in November.
National champion Abhimanyu from Haryana also moved into the last four after defeating Kyrgyzstan's Tenibekov Sanjar in a one-sided affair.
In the rematch of last year's quarter-finals, Nitu and Balkibekova went all guns blazing in the first round. However, the Kazakh was dominant and took the round 2-3.
The IBA Women's World Boxing Championships is scheduled to be held from May 6 to 21 in Istanbul, Turkey while the 2022 Commonwealth Games and 2022 Asian Games will begin on July 28 and September 10 respectively.
The defeat brought an end to the country's campaign in the sport at the ongoing Games.
Nikhat's form augurs well for India with the Olympics coming up next year.
Sonia Lather (57kg) stood just one win away from ending India's six-year-old gold medal drought at the AIBA Women's World Boxing Championship as she advanced to final after outpunching Kazakhstan's Aizhan Khojabekova in the last-four stage in Astana, Kazakhstan on Thursday. The 24-year-old Sonia, who is a 2012 Asian Championships silver-medallist, defeated Khojabekova 3-0 to set up a clash with Italian Alessia Mesiano, who got the better of Bulgaria's Denitsa Eliseeva by a similar margin. The lone Indian left in the fray, Sonia was quick off the blocks against her rather sloppy rival. Combining right hooks with power-packed jabs, Sonia threw Khojabekova off balance on more than one occasion. Khojabekova was mostly clueless when it came to defending herself and her feeble attempts at attack were blocked or evaded effortlessly by the quick-thinking Haryana girl. In the end, it was hardly a surprise that judges ruled unanimously in Sonia's favour.
Nitu has been in supreme form throughout the tournament, winning her first three bouts by RSC (referee stops contest).
'I had a complex, three-stage surgery, but I am not done yet'
In the lightweight (57-60kg) division, Jasmine will feature straight in the quarter-finals after getting a first round bye.
Nikhat from Telengana was handed the fourth spot in the 51 kg category which already has the six-time World Champion MC Mary Kom, RSPB's Jyoti Gulia and Haryana's Ritu Grewal as other contenders.
In a first for women's boxing in India, former world champion and Asian Games bronze-medallist L Sarita Devi has decided to turn professional but will not give up on the amateur circuit either if the Boxing Federation of India allows her. The 31-year-old multiple-time Asian champion decided to take the plunge by signing up a two-year deal with the commercial partners of Indian Boxing Council (IBC) - a licensing body for professional boxers in the country -- Sporty Boxing Private Limited.
