Nitu Ghanghas and Manisha Moun posted contrasting victories to make it to the quarterfinals of the World women’s boxing championships at Istanbul on Saturday.
While Nitu (48kg) registered a comprehensive 5-0 victory over Spain’s Marta Lopez Del Arbol, Manisha (57kg) upset former Worlds bronze medallist Bulgarian Svetlana Staneva 4-1 in a keenly-contested fight.
Nitu, a southpaw, maintained a good distance and executed her right-left combinations with accuracy even as the Spaniard looked to attack and resorted to clinching and bending.
After winning the opening round, Nitu grew in confidence as she mixed her jabs and combinations to take the second.
The catch-up game became too tough for Marta, who was served a warning, as Nitu continued with her counters to dominate the fight.
The 21-year-old Indian will face defending champion Alua Balkibekova of Kazakhstan in the round of eight.
Manisha managed a hard-fought win over Svetlana. Manisha moved well to land her counter punches in reply to the Bulgarian southpaw’s quick combinations and stayed 3-2 ahead in the first round.
As Manisha showed more aggression and got engaged in an exchange of punches, she got a warning and saw the round going to Svetlana with a 4-1 verdict.
In the more physical final round, in which the Bulgarian received a warning, both boxers threw a flurry of punches and held each other. Manisha impressed the judges with her precision and booked a date with experienced Mongolian boxer Namuun Monkhor.
On Friday, two-time Asian champion Pooja Rani Bohra made a winning start to enter the quarterfinals, while Olympics bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain crashed out.
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On Sunday, six Indian boxers including Nikhat will be in action in the round-of-16 bouts.
Nikhat (52kg) and Shiksha (54kg) will next face Mongolia’s Lutsaikhan Altantsetseg and Youth Asian bronze medallist Yesugen Oyuntsetseg respectively whereas Parveen will take on former Youth Olympic champion Jajaira Gonzalez of USA.
Anamika (50kg) will square off against World Championships bronze medallist Kristy Lee Harris of Australia while Jaismine (60kg) will be up against Australia’s Angela Harries.
Meanwhile, 2017 Youth World Champion Ankushita (66kg) will make her elite World Championships debut against Poland’s Aneta Rygielska.
The results (Indians unless specified): Pre-quarterfinals:
48kg: Nitu Ghanghas bt. Marta Lopez Del Arbol 5-0; 57kg: Manisha bt. Staneva Svetlana 4-1
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