Women's Boxing Nationals: Lovlina, Nikhat advance to finals; 8 Railways boxers also emerge victorious

Image Source : PTI Nikhat Zareen in action (file photo)

Reigning World Champion Nikhat Zareen and Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain advanced to the finals of the Women's National Championships on Sunday. Eight Railways boxers also made it to the summit clash.

Nikhat (50 kg), who is representing Telangana defeated AIP's Shavinder Kaur to register a comfortable win 5-0 to seal the berth in the final. She will face Anamika in the fight for the gold medal. Assam's Lovlina (75 kg) too had an easy outing against Madhya Pradesh’s Jigyasa Rajput as she dictated the terms throughout the bout and won by unanimous decision to advance to the finals. She will be up against 2021 World Youth Champion Arundhati Choudhary of SSCB in the gold medal bout.

Defending Champions Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB), however, dominated the proceedings with eight of their boxers producing some sensational performances in the tournament.

2019 World Championships silver medallist Manju Rani showed great composure against Madhya Pradesh’s Anjali Sharma in a one-sided bout. She played from long range and convincingly won the bout 5-0 to set up a final date with S Kalaivani of Tamil Nadu.

2017 World Youth Champion Jyoti Gulia (52kg) started on the back foot against Uttar Pradesh’s Sonia and took some time to gauge her opponent’s strategy. However, she bounced back in the last two rounds, played from a close distance, and landed regular punches to secure a 4-1 verdict in her favour. She will square off against SSCB's Sakshi in the final.

The other 6 Railways boxers who moved into the finals are Anupama (50 kg), Shiksha (54kg), Poonam (60 kg), Shashi (63 kg), Anupama (81 kg), and Nupur (81+kg).