Muristek
New Delhi, March 9
Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain today made the cut for the women's World Championships to be held in Istanbul in May after three days of trials at the end of which some other seasoned campaigners like Nikhat Zareen and Pooja Rani also qualified for the event.
This will be Borgohain's first competitive outing after her podium finish in the 69kg category in Tokyo, which no longer exists in the International Boxing Association (IBA) events. Competing in the 70kg division, Borgohain defeated youth world champion Arundhati Choudhary, who had approached the Delhi High Court protesting the automatic selection given to the Assamese, at the time when the event was scheduled for December last year.
The tournament was eventually postponed due to the pandemic and will be held from May 6 to 21 as per the revised schedule.
Zareen, who made the cut in the 52kg class, was an expected selection after becoming the first Indian woman boxer to claim two gold medals at the prestigious Strandja Memorial boxing tournament.
Nitu (48kg), who also won a gold at the same tournament, claimed a place in the squad. Another recent Strandja Memorial medallist to qualify was Nandini (+81kg), who won a bronze. The team also features Rani (81kg). After losing her father earlier this month, she was forced to pull out of the Europe's oldest boxing tournament.
The 66kg category features Assam's Ankushita Boro, a former youth world champion.
Six-time world champion MC Mary Kom has withdrawn from the Worlds as well as the Asian Games to focus on the Birmingham Commonwealth Games in July-August.
Apart from the 12 World Championships categories, selections were also confirmed for the Asian Games in three overlapping divisions ndash; 57kg, 60kg and 75kg.
In the 57kg category, Manisha won her trial bouts to make the cut for both the showpiece events, while the promising Jaismine (60kg) and the experienced Saweety Boora (75kg) also ensured twin selections for themselves.
The trials for the remaining two Asian Games weight categories — 51kg and 69kg — will be held from March 11 to 13. — PTI
Young pugilists reach finals
New Delhi: Indian women boxers Nivedita Karki and Tamanna continued their brilliant run to enter the finals of the Asian Youth and Junior Boxing Championships while Renu (52kg) won a bronze medal after losing in the semifinals in Amman, Jordan, today. While Karki had to work hard against Thailand's Runrarit Graisee during her 4-1 win in the 48kg class, Tamanna (50kg) dominated Kazakhstan's Anita Adisheva in a 5-0 win. However, Renu endured a 0-5 loss to Uzbekistan's Munavvar Fozilova.