Nikhat Zareen and Minakshi Hooda enter semi finals of national boxing championships

Country’s top boxers including world champion Minakshi Hooda, two-time world champion Nikhat Zareen, World Boxing Cup gold medallist Hitesh Gulia and others sailed into the semi-finals of the Elite Men and Women National Boxing Championships with comfortable wins at Gautam Buddha University, Greater Noida, on Thursday.

Minakshi (women’s 45-48kg) of All India Police defeated Kashish Mehta of Punjab 5:0, while Nikhat (48-51kg) blanked Manipur’s Lanchenbee Chanu Tongbram by an identical margin.

In the



men’s 65-70kg quarterfinals, Hitesh defeated Punjab’s Tejaswi 5:0 to advance to the semi-finals. World Boxing Cup Finals silver medallist Pawan Bartwal (men’s 50-55kg), Jadumani Singh (50-55kg) and Sachin (55-60kg) all earned unanimous decisions in their quarterfinal bouts.

Pawan defeated Tyson of Arunachal Pradesh, Jadumani overcame Punjab’s Nikhil and Sachin beat Uttar Pradesh’s Karan. In the women’s 51-54kg quarterfinals, Preeti defeated Harmeet Kaur Virk of Punjab 5:0, while Sakshi got the better of Poonam of RSPB 4:1.