SOFIA (Bulgaria), Feb 24: Indian pugilists Anamika and S Kalaivani registered contrasting wins to move to the semifinals of the Strandja Memorial International Boxing Tournament here on Friday.
Anamika displayed swift movement and landed a flurry of punches to defeat Brazil’s Caroline de Almeida 5-0 in the 50kg quarterfinal.
Kalaivani also looked confident and dominated the proceedings against Florencia Lopez of Argentina to take an early lead in the 48kg category.
Lopez tried to fight back in the last round but Kalaivani displayed solid defence and counter-attacked en route to a 4-1 win.
Meanwhile, three female pugilists — Jyoti, Vinakshi and Simranjit — made quarterfinal exits.
Jyoti (52 kg) went down 2-3 against Romane Moulai of France in a tough bout, while Vinakshi (57kg) lost 1-4 to USA’s Alyssa Mendoza.
Brazil’s Beatriz Ferreira beat Simranjit 4-1 in the women’s 60kg division.
Three boxers will be in action in the quarters later on Friday.
Bishwamitra (51 kg) will take on Jordan Roach USA, while Mahi Lamba will face the Dutch pugilist Keona Sam-Sin in the women’s 63kg.
Two-time Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Hussamuddin (57kg) will square off against Artur Bazayan of Armenia.
Late on Thursday night, two Indian male pugilists made their way into the semi-finals of the tournament.
The 2021 World Youth champion Sachin notched up a 4-1 win against Muzafarov Shakhzod of Uzbekistan in the 54kg category.
Reigning National champion Govind Kumar Sahani (48kg) outclassed the two-time Asian champion Nodrijon Mirzakhmedov of Uzbekistan 5-0.
On the other hand, Akash (67kg) bowed out of the tournament after suffering a 0-5 defeat against Denmark’s Sebastian Terteryan. Narender lost 1-4 to Mahammad Abdullayev of Azerbaijan in the 92+kg category. (PTI)
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