India Open gold medallist Bhagyabati Kachari and former world youth champion Ankushita Boro stormed into the quarter-finals of the Women’s National Boxing Championships in Kannur on Thursday.
Assam’s Kachari, representing Railways, was on song and hardly broke a sweat, ending 2018 bronze medallist Jigyasa Rajput’s campaign 5-0 in 81kg. Boro (64kg) too had it easy in her pre-quarter-final bout against Himachal Pradesh’s Earika Shekhar, whom she trounced 5-0.
Last edition’s silver medallist Nupur (75kg) also registered a 5-0 win. The Haryana pugilist was sharp right from the beginning against Himachal Pradesh’s Sandhya, who had absolutely no answer to the former’s flurry of punches. Also breezing into the quarter-finals was All India Police’s Lalfakmawii Ralte, who pummelled Kerala’s Seethal Shaji 5-0 in 81kg.
Madhya Pradesh’s upcoming talent Nisha Yadav (64kg) was one of the biggest casualties on Day 4 of the tournament as Uttar Pradesh’s Aradhana Patel was declared the winner in round 2.
Ladakh, making debut in the tournament, too had a setback as Farina Llyas went down to Kerala’s Ansumol Benny, who emerged victorious by RSC in round 1.
Delhi had a good day in the ring with both Anjali (69kg) and Shalakha Singh Sansanwal (75kg) progressing into the last-eight stage. While the former dominated Punjab’s Gagandeep Kaur 5-0, the latter dashed the hopes of Maharashtra’s Manisha Oza by a similar score line. From Andhra Pradesh, Gompa Geya Rupini (81kg) made it to the quarter-finals. Telangana too had a winner in Saara Qureshi, who got a walkover from Haryana’s Nirmal in 81kg.