New Delhi:
Indian women boxers had a great day in the ring as five of them qualified for the quarterfinals in their respective weights categories at the AIBA Women's Youth World Boxing Championships being held in Guwahati.
The fast-rising Ankushita Boro (64kg) led the charge with a commanding victory over Turkey's Aluc Cagla. Boro is a silver-medallist from the Balkan Youth International Boxing Championship and the International Ahmet Comert Tournament.
"She beat me in her country, so it was only natural that I had to return the compliment in my own country," Boro said. Also advancing to the quarterfinals were Shashi Chopra (57kg), Jyoti Gulia (51kg), a Golden Glove Tournament gold- medallist, Neetu (48kg) and Sakshi Choudhary (54kg).
Gulia, the boxer who opened the proceedings for India this afternoon, defeated Ukraine's Anastasiia Lisinska to make the last-eight stage. Chopra, on the other hand, got the better of second seed Taiwan's Lin Li Wei-Yi to be just one win away from winning a medal.
In the evening session, Balkan Youth International Championship gold medallist and the reigning national champion Neetu out-witted Bulgaria's Emi-Mari Todorova in her pre- quarterfinal bout. Nitu was delighted after her victory.
"It was an easy bout for me. I had beaten her earlier in Bulgaria too and I knew how to tackle her," she said. "She didn't allow me to move freely in the first round. My coach changed my strategy midway and that made all the difference," she added.
In the last Indian bout of the day, Choudhary upstaged fourth-seeded Indira Shudabaeva of Russia in a split verdict to move ahead in the championships.
India are already assured of two medals in the event after Neha Yadav (+81kg) and Anupama (81kg) found themselves in the semifinals due to small size of the draws. Over 150 boxers from 38 countries are competing in the event, being held in India for the first time.
With Inputs from PTI
