Nikhat Zareen sails into World Boxing Championships quarterfinal

Two-time world champion Nikhat Zareen continued her march in the World Boxing Championships in Liverpool on Tuesday with a 5:0 win over Japan’s Yuma Nishinaka in the women’s 51kg pre-quarterfinals.

The 29-year-old faced a spirited fight from the Japanese in the opening round, but there was no stopping the Indian, who is playing her first international event this year.

In fact, the Japanese even received two penalty points for excessive clinching as she tried to break Nikhat’s rhythm.

India has fielded a 20-member contingent at the inaugural World Championships being held under the aegis of the World Boxing — a recently formed international governing body for boxing, and is hoping for a good



showing in both men’s and women’s events.

Three more women boxers are also just a win away from the podium, and five more are set to take the rink in their respective pre-quarterfinal bout later in the day.

However, it was the end of the road for Sachin (men’s 60kg), Sumit (Men’s 75kg) and Narender (men’s 90+kg) as they lost their respective bout late on Monday night.

Sachin went down 1:4 against Biibars Zhexen of Kazakhstan, Sumit lost to Rami Kiwan of Bulgaria 0:5, while Narender’s ended on the wrong side of a 1:4 verdict against Diego Lenzi of Italy.

In the women’s 65kg pre-quarterfinals, Neeraj Phogat’s spirited fight against England’s Sacha Hickey was not enough as she lost 2:3.