World Boxing Championships: Pooja Rani storms into quarter-finals, Lovlina Borgohain loses in round-of-16

Indian boxer and two-time Asian Champion Pooja Rani stormed to the quarter-finals of the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships in Istanbul on Friday.

Pooja Rani beat Timea Nagy of Hungary 5-0 by unanimous decision in the 81 kg category.

Pooja, playing her first international bout since the Tokyo Olympics, was aggressive from the start. She landed accurate punches and moved swiftly in the ring.

The ace Indian boxer looked in complete control throughout the bout and registered a commanding 5-0 victory to move to the last-eight in style.

Pooja Rani will meet Australia's Jessica Bagley in the quarterfinals on Monday.

Lovlina Borgohain loses in World Boxing Championships

Indian boxer Lovlina Borgohain's World Boxing Championships campaign came to an end when she went down fighting to Cindy Ngamba of Fair Chance Team in the round-of-16.

Lovlina played from a distance and tried to counter-attack but Cindy went on to secure a 4-1 split verdict in her favor over the Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist.

In the first round, the 24-year-old star Indian boxer dished out a splendid showing to secure a 3-2 win against former world champion Chen Nien-Chin in the 70kg opening round bout.

2017 World Youth Champion Nitu (48kg) and 2019 Asian Championship bronze medallist Manisha (57kg) will play their respective pre-quarterfinal bouts on Saturday.

Nitu will face Spain’s Lopez Del Arbol while Manisha will square off against Bulgaria’s Svetlana Staneva for a place in the quarter-finals.

In the previous edition of the World Boxing Championships, held in Russia in 2019, Indian boxers won one silver and three bronze medals.

In the history of the World Boxing Championships, Indian boxers have won 36 medals, including nine gold medals, eight silver medals and 19 bronze medals in 11 editions. The Indian medal haul is the third highest after Russia (60) and China (50).