Nikhat Zareen leads Indian quartet into quarterfinals of Women’s World Boxing Championship

Four of the six Indian boxers reached the quarterfinals of the Women’s World Championships at the KD Jadhav Indoor Hall on Tuesday and are now one win away from medals. Nikhat Zareen, Nitu Ghanghas, Manisha Maun and Jaismine Lamboria won their fights and now have a chance to secure a podium finish on Wednesday.
Nikhat had to work hard for her win. She may have taken a unanimous decision against Mexican Patricia Alvarez Herrera 5-0 in the 50kg weight category but the bout was physically taxing on Zareen, who is already showing signs of wear and tear that come with the extra round she had to compete in because of being unseeded.
Her mouth bleeding, a strain on her neck and a bloodshot eye – Nikhat wore the look of a tired contender. She now has a quarterfinal bout mere hours later and if she gets past that, it will be followed a semi-final the next day, a day of rest and then a potential final. It’s a gruelling schedule and one that is quickly turning out to be her worst enemy at these World Championships.
“In my boxing career, this is the first competition in which I’ll play six bouts (till the final) but it’s ok, I guess,” Nikhat told reporters. “I had some fatigue in my last round as the previous bout was tough with the opponent’s punches landing pretty well so my neck was a little tight and my body a little slow today compared to my last bout.”
Nitu knockdown
Two sections of the KD Jadhav indoor hall were filled with Nitu’s supporters and they had brought dhols with them that were put to good use in the short Round-of-16 bout in which the Indian took down Sumaiya Qosimova of Tajikan inside a couple of minutes.
Nikhat had to work hard for her win. (Image: BFI)
One of the pre-tournament issues was a lack of high competition owing to many countries pulling out of the event. Their reasons for boycotting the World Championships ranged from a perceived absence of fair elections to some of the core issues leading to the IBA’s suspension the International Olympic Committee not being addressed.
It meant that despite this being a 48kg Round-of-16 bout of the World Championships, Nitu’s opponent was simply not up to the mark. Her inability to defend the Indian’s looping left cross was enough for the referee to give her one standing count seconds into the fight. He then had to stop the one-sided beatdown when he had to resort to a second standing count.
Qosimova protested the decision and waved her finger at the result but her inadequate defence had left the referee with no other option.
Maun beats Turkish opponent
The same disbelief was shown Turkish boxer Nur Elif Turhan, and her coaches. This was despite the repeated unanswered punches that led to as many as four standing counts before the referee called an end to the contest in which Manisha dismantled her opponent in the 57kg Olympic weight category.

At least Turhan took Maun to three rounds, with the second being her best. Shorter in height, she tried to rush Maun on multiple occasions: Not the smartest of decisions.
The Indian boxer shifted her weight to the right, evaded Turhan’s swing and landed a right of her own. The shift to the right gave her leverage in the form of a favourable angle to land her own punches, with more power even if with less precision. But the punches kept landing. Turhan, enraged at getting hit, tried her best to land haymakers of her own, but her shots rarely hit her mark and even when they did, it simply wasn’t as clean a strike as Maun was able to generate.
In the third round, the referee had seen enough and, despite the Turkish boxer’s protestations, stopped the bout and awarded Maun an entry into the quarterfinals.
Jaismine prevails
One of the taller boxers in the 60kg weight category, Jaismine came to the World Championships on the back of a Commonwealth Games bronze medal. Against Mijgona Samadova of Tajikan, she fought her way onto the cusp of a bigger medal.
Her height was the game-changer in this fight. Samadova tried her best to stay out of range and launch a pacey raid inside Jaismine’s guard, but after the first round where the strategy was successful, the Indian boxer started using a straighter jab. The move worked and she won the next two rounds in convincing fashion, taking the fight with it.
India’s two losses on the day came when Shashi Chopra lost her 63 kg bout 0-4 to Japan’s Mai Kito and Manju Bamboriya lost 0-5 to Uzbekan’s Navbhakor Khamidiva in the 66 kg category.