AIBA Women's Youth Championships: Ashtha Pahwa enters quarter-finals; Shashi Chopra qualifies for Round of 16

Guwahati: India’s campaign was off to a reasonably good start as Ashtha Pahwa (69 kg) entered quarter-finals while Shashi Chopra made the last-16 stage after winning their respective opening bouts at the AIBA Women’s Youth World Championships. [caption id=“attachment_3976167” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Getty images[/caption] However host nation’s Vanlalhriatpuii (60kg) bowed out losing her opening round bout. In her opening round contest which was also the pre-quarterfinal, Astha defeated Melis Yonuzova of Bulgaria. Shashi defeated Uzbekistan’s Durdonakhon Rakhmatova in a unanimous verdict, while Vanlalhriatpuii went down to South Korea’s Im Aeji in a split verdict in her opening bout. Shashi was in action in the first session and grabbed the early advantage by taking the lead in launching attacks. The following two rounds followed a similar script as Shashi got the judges’ unanimous nod. Shashi’s put her Uzbek opponent on the backfoot using the double jab followed by a left-right-left combination of punches. She managed to connect a powerful left hook on the right temple of her opponent that got Rakhmatova standing count, seconds before the bell. “I am very happy with my first round victory. I was confident that I could win the bout if I stick to my game plan and not allow my opponent to score points. I also kept my punches straight and struck effectively,” Shashi said. The gold-medallist from Balkan Youth International Championship, will next face the Chinese Taipei’s Lin Li Wei- Yi, who got a first-round bye. In the evening session, Vanlalhriatpuii, also a reigning national champion, was up against a quick-moving and aggressive Aeji. The Korean broke through Vanlalhriatpuii’s defence quite early and although the Indian fought back hard in the closing three minutes, the bout had tilted decidedly in Aeji’s favour. Aeji will next face Bulgaria’s Mehmedova Aslahan Sezgin in her pre-quarterfinal bout.