Liverpool: Minakshi (women’s 48kg), Jaismine Lamboria (women’s 57kg), and Nupur (women’s 80kg) were at their dominant best in their respective semi-finals to raise hope of multiple gold medals for India at the World Boxing Championships 2025 in Liverpool.
Minakshi defeated Altantsetseg Lutsaikhan of Mongolia 5:0, Jaismine hammered Omailyn Carolina Alcala Cegovia of Venezuela 5:0, and Nupur proved too good for Turkey’s Seyma Duztas.
India has fielded a 20-member contingent at the inaugural World Championships being held under the aegis of the World Boxing, a recently formed international governing body for boxing, and is hoping for a good showing in both men’s and women’s events.
Pooja Rani (women’s 80kg) is the fourth Indian boxer to reach the semifinals and will face Emily Asquith of England later in the day.
In the women’s 48kg semifinals, Minakshi did not allow two-time Asian bronze medallist Lutsaikhan to find her rhythm in any of the three rounds and completely dominated the bout to earn an unanimous decision.
It was a similar story in the other two semifinals as both Jaismine and Nupur rarely looked under pressure throughout their bouts.
In the finals on Saturday night, Jaismine will now face Paris Olympic silver medallist Julia Szeremeta of Poland, while Nupur will take on another Polish boxer, Agata Kaczmarska, a multiple-time European championships medallist.
In the men’s 50kg category, Jadumani Singh Mandengbam needed to beat former world champion and two-time Asian champion Sanzhar Tashkenbay of Kazakhstan in the quarterfinals. The 21-year-old Indian, playing in his first world championships, took the fight to his much-experienced opponent but could not avoid a close loss.
(IANS)
