Istanbul (Turkey): The 2017 Youth World Champion Nitu (48kg) continued her fine form and cruised into the quarter-finals at the 12th edition of the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships as she defeated Spain’s Lopez Del Arbol by unanimous decision here on Saturday.
Nitu, who won the gold medal at Strandja Memorial Boxing Championships in Sofia this year, dominated the proceedings right from the beginning. The boxer from Bhiwani showed relentless energy and exhibited her brilliant footwork and speed to land precise punches.
Nitu upped the ante in the next two rounds and carried on with her attacking approach without giving any chance to her opponent and won the bout convincingly by 5-0.
Her next opponent will be Kazakhstan’s Alua Balkibekova in the quarter-final on Monday.
Later on Saturday night, Manisha (57kg) will fight against Svetlana Staneva of Bulgaria.
On Sunday, six Indian boxers including Nikhat Zareen will be in action in the round-of-16 bouts.
Nikhat (52kg) and Shiksha (54kg) will next face Mongolia’s Lutsaikhan Altantsetseg and Youth Asian bronze medallist Yesugen Oyuntsetseg respectively whereas Parveen will meet former Youth Olympic champion Jajaira Gonzalez of USA.
Anamika (50kg) will square off against World Championships bronze medallist Kristy Lee Harris of Australia while Jaismine (60kg) will be up against Australia’s Angela Harries.
Meanwhile, the 2017 Youth World Champion Ankushita (66kg) will make her elite World Championships debut against Poland’s Aneta Rygielska.
This year’s event, which marks the 20th anniversary of the IBA Women’s World Championships, will be played till May 20.
In the last edition of the tournament, held in Russia in 2019, Indian boxers secured one silver and three bronze medals.
Indian boxers have won 36 medals, including nine gold, eight silver and 19 bronze, in the 11 previous editions of the tournament, which is the third-highest after Russia (60) and China (50). In the last edition held in Russia in 2019, the Indians bagged one silver and three bronze medals.
(IANS)
