Astana,may 14
Indian pugilist Gaurav Chauhan moved into the men’s 92+kg semi-finals and confirmed a medal after a hard-fought 3-2 win over Danial Saparbay of Kazakhstan on Day 2 of the Elorda Cup 2024 in Astana, Kazakhstan, on Tuesday.Meanwhile, six-time Asian Championships medallist Shiva Thapa went down fighting 1-4 against Kazakhstan’s Abduali Almat in the 63.5kg bout.Sanjay (80kg) also exited the competition with a 0-5 loss against current Asian Games champion China’s Tuohetaerbieke Tanglatihan.Manisha (60kg), Monika (81+kg) and Lalfakmawii Ralte (81+kg) will contest their bouts later today. Ralte has been drawn in the 81+kg due to fewer entries in the 81kg category.Pawan Bartwal (54kg), Kavinder Singh Singh Bisht (57kg), Varinder Singh (60kg), Abhishek Yadav (67kg) and Hitesh (71kg) will play their respective quarter-final bouts.The Boxing Federation of India has sent a 21-member squad for the prestigious tournament which has been witnessing the participation of pugilists from strong boxing nations such as Kazakhstan, China, India, Japan and Uzbekistan.Earlier in the competition, the reigning world boxing champion Nikhat Zareen (52kg) began her campaign with a convincing 5-0 win against Kazakhstan’s Rakhymberdi Zhansaya on the opening day of the Elorda Cup 2024 in Astana, Kazakhstan on Monday.The 27-year-old Nikhat is a decorated boxer at such a young age, having won two World Championships gold medals already, one in 2022 Istanbul (in the flyweight category) and in the 2023 New Delhi edition (Light flyweight).She is also a gold medalist in the Commonwealth Games, having secured the light flyweight gold in the 2022 CWG at Birmingham.Nikhat also won a bronze medal in the Asian Games at Hangzhou last year in the light flyweight category. She also has a flyweight bronze medal at the Asian Championships in 2019.Minakshi (48kg) also made her way into the next round with a 4-1 victory over Gassymova Roxana of Kazakhstan. Anamika, on the other hand, defeated Zhumabayeva Arailym with a referee stop the contest (RSC) win in the first round of the 50kg category bout, as per a press release from the Boxing Federation of India (BFI).Meanwhile, Ishmeet Singh (75kg) and Sonia (54kg) bowed out after losing 0-5 against Kazakhstan’s Armanuly Armat and China’s Chang Yuan respectively.On Wednesday, five Indian boxers will be in action and the finals of the competition will be played on Saturday.
