Bosphorus Boxing Tournament: Nikhat Zareen stuns two-time world champion to enter semis, Gaurav Solanki also advances

Asian Championships bronze medalist Nikhat Zareen upset two-time world champion Nazym Kyzaibay to enter the women’s 51kg semi-finals at the Bosphorus Boxing Tournament on Friday. A highly aggressive Nikhat Zareen powered past the Kazakh boxer 4-1 to set up a meeting with Turkey's Busenaz Cakiroglu.

With Commonwealth Games gold medalist Gaurav Solanki also progressing into the semi-finals, India is now assured of two medals from the Bosphorus Boxing Tournament.

Nikhat showed great dexterity as she moved quickly on her feet and avoided punches from the Kazakh to keep scoring points. Kyzaibay, a gold medallist at the 2014 and 2016 World Championships, ended up paying for her weak defense in the bout against the former world junior champion.

Nikhat thus continues her giant-killing spree at the Bosphorus Boxing Tournament. Earlier on Thursday, the Hyderabadi pugilist had got the better of 2019 world champion Ekaterina Paltceva of Russia in the pre-quarterfinals.

𝗤𝗨𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗙𝗜𝗡𝗔𝗟𝗦 𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗥𝗦🤩2️⃣Medals confirmed for 🇮🇳 at the #BosphorusBoxingTournament.🥊: @solankigaurav01 defeated 🇹🇷's Mizan Aykol by 4️⃣:1️⃣🥊: @nikhat_zareen defeated 🇰🇿's Nazym Kazaibay by 4️⃣:1️⃣Onto the semis now🔥#BosphorusBoxingTournament#boxing pic.twitter.com/NkLPzswZmE

— Boxing Federation (@BFI_official) March 19, 2021

Meanwhile, Gaurav Solanki outpunched local boy Aykol Mizan 4-1 in the men's 57kg quarterfinals. Solanki displayed great footwork and combination punches to outfox his opponent. He will face Argentina's Nirco Cuello later in the day.

End of the road for Sonia Lather, Shiva Thapa at Bosphorus Boxing Tournament

However, it was curtains for Sonia Lather (57kg), Parveen (60kg) and Jyoti (69kg) in the women's section, and Shiva Thapa (63kg) in men's, as they suffered quarter-final exits.

Former Asian champion Shiva Thapa could not continue the good form that he had shown in the earlier bout and went down 1-4 to Hakan Dogan of Turkey.

A 13-member Indian contingent has been sent to the Bosphorus Boxing Tournament in Istanbul to be held until March 21. The Boxam International silver medalist Vikas Krishan, six-time world champion Mary Kom, and Asian Games gold medallist Amit Panghal have given the tournament a miss.