Lovlina, Nikhat ease into finals; Simranjit too advances

PTI

Bhopal, December 25

Reigning world champion Nikhat Zareen and Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain continued their fine run at the Women’s National Championships, reaching the finals here today.

Eight Railways boxers, including 2019 World Championships silver medallist Manju Rani (48kg) and 2017 world youth champion Jyoti Gulia (52kg), also made it to the finals here.

Nikhat (50kg), who is representing Telangana, comfortably won 5-0 against All India Police’s Shavinder Kaur to set up the summit clash with Anamika.

Assam’s Lovlina (75kg) 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 Services in the gold medal bout.

Manju showed great composure against Madhya Pradesh’s Anjali Sharma in a one-sided bout. She used her reach and convincingly won the bout 5-0 to set up the final date with S Kalaivani of Tamil Nadu.

Jyoti started on the back foot against Uttar Pradesh’s Sonia and took some time to gauge her opponent’s strategy. She rallied in the last two rounds, landing regular punches, to secure a 4-1 verdict in her favour. She will square off against Services’ Sakshi in the final.

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

World Championships bronze medallists Manisha (57kg) and Simranjit Kaur (60kg) also continued their good run to make it to the final.

Manisha defeated Railways’ Sonia Lather 4-1 in a close bout and will fight against Vinakshi of Himachal Pradesh in the final. Simranjit got the better of All India Police’s Kros Hmangaihsangi with a comfortable 5-0 unanimous verdict. She will take on Poonam in the summit clash.