Asian medallists Manisha, Ankit in semis of world youth boxing

Ankit became the third Indian boxer to make the semifinals at the event after he prevailed 5-0 over Denmark’s Nikolai Terteryan in the lightweight 60kg category quarterfinals.

Ankit Khatana (in red) will square off against Thailand’s Atichai Phoemsap in the semifinals. (File Photo)

Asian gold-medallist Manisha and silver-winner Ankit Khatana advanced to the semifinals to assure themselves of medals at the ongoing world youth boxing championships here.

Manisha fetched a split verdict over Slovakia’s Miroslava Jedinakova in her quarterfinal bout to enter the last-four stage of the light welterweight 64kg category today.

Ankit made the semifinals at the event after he prevailed 5-0 over Denmark’s Nikolai Terteryan in the lightweight 60kg category quarterfinals late last night.

Ankit will square off against Thailand’s Atichai Phoemsap in the semifinals. Phoemsap got the better of Japan’s Ryunosuke Tsutsumi in his quarterfinal bout.

Manisha, on the other hand, will be up against against Hungary’s Veronika Villas tomorrow.

However, Divya Pawar bowed out of contention after a 1-3 loss to Kazakhstan’s Aizada Yeslyamgali in the quarterfinals today.

Earlier, reigning champion Nitu (48kg) and Asian bronze-medallist Bhavesh Kattimani (52kg) are the other Indian boxers to have advanced to the semifinals.

Bhavesh notched up a close 3-2 win over Badr Berhili of Morocco, while Nitu dominated her bout with such ferocity that the referee awarded it to her in the first round itself against Germany’s Maxi Klotzer yesterday.