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Nikhat Zareen helped India win their only boxing medal on Day 8 of the Asian Games 2023. Earlier, the 27-year-old assured her country a medal after beating Jordan’s Hannan Nassar in the women’s 45-50kg quarterfinal on Friday, September 29 at the Hangzhou Stadium.
However, on Sunday, October 1, the boxer lost the chance to fight for the gold medal. She lost to Thailand’s Chuthamat Raksat 2-3 on points in the semi-final game. Zareen, who is also a two-time world champion, fought hard before going down against her Thai opponent.
Nikhat was a tad defensive to start with after Raksat pulled off a couple of sharp jabs on her opponent’s face. In the second round, the Indian boxer tried to be more aggressive, but the Thai boxer held her nerves to emerge victorious. It also happened to be Zareen’s maiden medal in the Asian Games, although she would have loved to convert it into gold.
Double joy for Parveen Hooda in Asian Games 2023
Earlier in the day, India’s Parveen Hooda looked in ominous touch against Uzbekistan’s Sitora Turdibekova in the quarterfinals of the women’s 54-57kg category event. She won the match 5-0 and assured a medal for India in boxing. Parveen is now set to take part in the semi-final of the event in her category on Wednesday, October 4.
Parveen, who won gold medals in the 2019 South Asian Games in Kathmandu and the 2022 Asian Championships in Amman, also had reasons to cheer as she also made her way through to the Paris Olympics to be held next year.
India’s Jaismine looked promising for a podium finish, but lost to Korea’s Ungyong Won in the women’s 57-60 kg quarterfinals. She lost by RSC (Referee Stops Contest). The referee put an end to the bout after Jaismine faced three standing counts in one minute.
