The ongoing World Boxing Cup Finals witnessed a day of upsets and comebacks by the Indian boxers in the semi-final round on Tuesday at the Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex in Greater Noida.
Preeti Pawar took down Olympic medallist and three-time world champion Huang Hsiao-Wen of Chinese Taipei in the 54 kg category while Arundhati Chaudhary (70 kg) and Parveen Hooda (60 kg) marked their return to the international stage with a win.
Preeti, who is returning after the 2024 Paris Olympics, didn’t get intimidated by the stature of her opponent and matched her punch by punch. While Huang started well in the first round, Preeti was more dominant in the second round and kept landing punches to deny the reigning World champion any momentum.
In the final round, Preeti landed two combinations that put Huang on the backfoot and she couldn’t recover from it losing 0-4 to the Indian.
When asked if she was nervous before her bout against World champion, Preeti said, “I knew she is a world champion, but to become a world champion, you must beat a world champion. That was my mindset going into the bout — that I have to give my 100 per cent and win in front of the home crowd.”
Arundhati’s return
Former World youth champion Arundhati Chaudhary marked her return to the international stage with a resounding win over Leonie Muller of Germany.
Arundhati was dominant from the first round and she knocked down the German once in the second round. In the third round when the German dropped again after a jab from Arundhati, the referee stopped the match.
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Coming back after her wrist surgery, Arundhati last played at the 2024 Paris Olympics qualifiers. ” I was nervous to begin with because my last international experience was a loss in the Paris (2024 Olympics) qualifiers before I underwent wrist surgery. But I told myself, ‘This is what I’ve been waiting for,’ and now I’m back,” she said after her bout.
Asian Games bronze medallist Parveen Hooda also marked her international return with a closely fought win over the World Championships silver medallist Aneta Elżbieta of Poland in the 60 kg category.
Minakshi Hooda (48kg), Nupur (+80kg), Ankush Phangal (80kg), Abhinash Jamwal (65kg) and Narender Berwal (+90kg) also advanced to the finals in their respective weight categories whole Saweety Boora (75 kg) and Naveen Kumar (90 kg ) lost their respective bouts to settle for bronze medal.
Indian results:
Women’s 48 kg: Minakshi defeated Bak Chorong of Korea 5-0; Women’s 54 kg: Preeti Pawar defeated Huang Hsiao Wen of Chinese Taipei 4-0; Women’s 60 kg: Parveen Hooda defeated Aneta Elżbieta of Poland 3-2; Women’s 70 kg: Arundhati Chaudhary defeated Leonie Muller of Germany by RSC; Women’s 75 kg: Saweety Boora lost to Emma Sue Greentree of Australia 0-5; Women’s 80 kg: Nupur defeated Mariia Lovchynska of Ukraine 5-0; Men’s 65 kg: Abhinash Jamwal defeated Elvin Alliev of Ukraine 5-0; Men’s 80 kg: Ankush defeated Marlon Sevehon of Australia 5-0; Men’s 90 kg: Naveen Kumar lost to Issac Okoh of England 0-5; Men’s 90+ kg: Narender Berwal defeated Daniyal Saparbay of Kazakhstan 4-1
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
