Nikhat Zareen sails into World Boxing Championships quarterfinal

Beats Japan’s Yuma Nishinaka 5:0 in the women’s 51kg pre-quarterfinals

Hyderabad: 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.

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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.