Photo credit: BFI
New Delhi, January 8 (IANS) Country's top boxers, including world champion Minakshi Hooda, two-time world titlist Nikhat Zareen, World Boxing Cup gold medallist Hitesh Gulia, and others, sailed into the semifinals of the Elite Men and Women National Boxing Championships with comfortable wins in their respective quarterfinal bouts at the Gautam Buddha University, Greater Noida, on Thursday.
This marks the first time that the men's and women's National Championships are being held together at the same venue, with 600 boxers competing across 10 weight categories for each gender. Minakshi (women's 45-48kg) from the All India Police team defeated Kashish Mehta of Punjab with a 5:0 score, while Nikhat (48-51kg) outperformed Manipur's Lanchenbee Chanu Tongbram by the same margin.
In the men's 65-70 kg quarterfinals, Hitesh won against Punjab's Tejaswi with a 5:0 score, moving on to the semifinals. Silver medallist Pawan Bartwal (50-55kg), Jadumani Singh (50-55kg), and Sachin (55-60kg) all secured unanimous decisions in their semifinal matches.
Pawan defeated Tyson from Arunachal Pradesh. Jadumani beat Nikhil from Punjab, and Sachin won against Karan from Uttar Pradesh. In the women's 51-54kg quarterfinals, Preeti triumphed over Harmeet Kaur Virk of Punjab with a score of 5:0, while Sakshi defeated Poonam of RSPB 4:1.
Earlier on Wednesday, two-time world champion Nikhat Zareen, World Boxing Cup Finals 2025 gold medallist Pawan Bartwal, and Sumit advanced further in the tournament by dominating their opponents.
In the women's 48-51kg category, the referee stopped the bout between Nikhat Zareen and Ladakh's Kulsooma Bano in the first round due to the former’s clear dominance. Pawan (men's 50-55kg) defeated Lalit, while Sumit (men's 70-75kg) overcame Madhya Pradesh's Kapil after both bouts were halted in the third round.
Pooja (75–80kg) of Haryana blanked Anju of Chandigarh 5–0 to assert her class, while Jadumani (50–55kg) was so dominant against R Parthiban of Tamil Nadu that the referee stopped the bout in the second round.
However, it was not an easy outing for two other established stars. Saweety pushed Assam’s Lovlina hard before the experienced campaigner prevailed 3–2 in a split decision.
In the men’s section, former Commonwealth Games gold medallist Amit Panghal (50–55kg), representing SSCB, edged past Priyanshu of Haryana by a 3–2 split decision.
The tournament commenced last week on January 4 and is set to run till Saturday (January 10).
