Asian Elite Boxing: Indian male pugilists get into the act as five women reach finals

New Delhi, Nov 10 (IANS) India are set for a rich gold medal haul from the 2022 Asian Elite Boxing Championships in Amman, Jordan as five female boxers led by Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain and World Championship medallist Parveen reached the finals while five male pugilists will step into the ring on Thursday hoping to emulate them.

On Wednesday, Minakshi (52kg), Parveen (63kg), Lovlina (75kg), Saweety (81kg) and Alfiya (+81kg) made it to the summit clash in their respective weight category while two other boxers fell in the semifinals, losing to strong opponents.

Ankushita Boro (66kg) and Preeti (57kg) exited the competition after losing to Khamidova Navbakhor of Uzbekistan by 1-4 and 2020 Olympics gold medalist Irie Sena of Japan by 0-5 respectively. Both boxers secured the bronze for their superb efforts in the tournament.

Saweety was the last Indian female boxer to make it to the final late on Wednesday night when she defeated Lina Jaber of Jordan as the referee stopped the contest (Rsc) in the second round in their 81kg semifinal bout, the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) informed on Thursday.

Lovlina (75kg) was up against Seong Suyeon of South Korea in her semifinal bout. Right from the beginning, Lovlina effectively utilised her clever techniques and strategies to capitalize on her opponent to clinch a 5-0 victory by unanimous decision.

Alfiya Pathan (81+kg), Parveen (63kg) and Minakshi (52kg) were equally commanding in their respective semi-final wins as they dominated their bouts in the 5:0 wins by unanimous decision.

Similar to her dominance in the previous bout, Parveen bossed her semifinal matchup against Uranbileg Shinetsetseg of Mongolia and the 2019 South Asian Games champion confirmed her berth in the final with yet another mighty and confident showing.

Alfiya was facing the 2016 World Champion Lazzat Kungeibayeva whom she has now defeated twice this year. The 2021 Youth Boxing World Champion stunned the Kazakh on her own turf in the 2022 Elorda Cup final to secure gold in her senior international debut competition.

Minakshi, on the other hand, was up against the 2021 Asian Championships bronze medallist Lutsaikhan Altantsetseg of Mongolia and the Rohtak-born boxer hardly had to break a sweat in her comfortable victory.

India's total medal count of 12 in this year's edition of the prestigious tournament is the third highest among all competing nations.

On Thursday, five Indian men boxers including the six-time Asian medallist Shiva Thapa (63.5kg) and two-time Commonwealth bronze medallist Mohammad Hussamuddin (57kg) will be competing in the semifinals.

The other men pugilists in action will be Narender (92+kg), Sumit (75kg), and Govind Kumar Sahani (48kg).

The finals of the tournament, in which 267 boxers from 27 countries are taking part, for the women's category will take place on Friday and for the men's category will be conducted on Saturday.