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Akshat Jain
Akshat Jain is a young, dynamic and driven sports journalist with three years of hands-on experience in the media industry. Born and brought up in Jasol, Rajasthan, he grew up immersed in the exciteme ... Read More
The Indian squad for the World Boxing Championships that opens at Liverpool, UK, on Thursday afternoon have been handed an easy draw with medal potential Hitesh Gulia (men’s 70kg), Abhinash Jamwal (men’s 65kg), Nikhat Zareen (women’s 51kg) and Lovlina Borgohain (women’s 70kg), all avoiding formidable opponents in the first round.
Whereas Gulia, Jamwal, Lovlina have earned the byes in the preliminary round, Nikhat Zareen will greet Jennifer Lozana of USA.
The 20-Indian team is set on delivering an impressive performance at the inaugural World Championships scheduled to be hosted under the banner of the World Boxing – an international governing body for boxing that was established recently, and their prospects have certainly gotten a boost with the return to action for Nikhat, world champion and Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Lovlina.
Both Lovlina and Nikhat have not featured in an international tournament this year but impressed in the domestic circuit and dominated the trials. The Indian boxers shone through in the two World Boxing Cup competitions in Brazil and Kazakhstan by winning 17 medals with four gold.
The World Boxing Championships will also for the very first time witness the men’s and women’s championships taking place simultaneously when over 544 boxers from 68 national federations will compete across 20 weight categories.
Of the other medal prospects in contention for India, Sakshi (women’s 54kg) will begin her journey against Ukraine’s Viktoriia Shkeul while Jaismine Lamboria (women’s 57kg) will face stiff second round encounter with Brazil budding star boxer Jucielen Cerqueira Romeu after going through Ukraine’s Daria-Olha Hutarina in the preliminary round.
Jaismine had defeated Romeu in the World Boxing Cup final in Astana and will also feel assured of delivering the similar performance in Liverpool.
Hitesh and Abhinash have been positioned in separate halves of the draw away from their nearest rivals Kainan Oliveira and Yuri Falcao (both Brazilianrs) respectively and will be favourites to advance to the top encounter of their respective weights divisions.
Four Indian boxers will feature on the first day of the competition with Pawan Bartwal (men’s 55kg) starting India’s campaign when he is scheduled to face Brazil’s Michael Douglas Trindade with Sakshi (women’s 54kg), the seasoned Sanamacha Chanu (women’s 70kg) and Harsh Choudhary (men’s 90kg) contesting the evening session.
Women’s
48kg – Meenakshi Hooda vs Bye
51kg – Nikhat Zareen (India) vs Jennifer Lozana
54kg – Sakshi vs Viktoriia Shkeul (UK
57kg – Jaismine Lamboria vs Daria-Olha Hutarina (UKR) next round next Brazilian Jucielen Cerque
60kg – Sanju Khatri (NEP) vs Aneta Rygi
65kg – Neeraj Phogat (India) versus Krista K
70kg – Sanamacha Chanu vs Ditte Frostholm (DEN)
75kg – Lovlina Borgohain vs bye
80kg – Pooja Rani vs bye
80+kg – Nupur Sheoran vs bye
Men’s
50kg – Yadumani Singh Mandengbam vs bye
55kg – Pawan Bartwal vs Michael Douglas Da Silva Trindade
60kg – Sachin Siwach Jr vs Bye
65kg – Abhinash Jamwal vs bye
70kg – Hitesh Gulia Bye
75kg – Sumit Kundu vs Mohammad Alhussien (JOR)
80kg – Lakshya Chahar vs bye
85kg – Jugnoo Ahlawat vs bye
90kg – Harsh Chaudhary vs Adam Tutak (POL)
90-kg – Narender Berwal (vs Martin McDonagh (IRL)
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