Magomed Salam Umakhanov Memorial Boxing: Pooja Rani, Lovlina Borgohain among four Indian pugilists to advance to semis

Asian gold-medallist Pooja Rani (75kg) and world bronze-winner Lovlina Borgohain (69kg), along with two others Indians, entered the semi-finals of the Magomed Salam Umakhanov Memorial International Boxing Tournament in Kaspiysk, Russia. India Open gold-medallist Neeraj (57kg) and former world youth bronze-medallist Jony (60kg) were the other two to make the semi-finals on Wednesday night. [caption id=“attachment_6526061” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Pooja Rani is the reigning Asian Championship gold medallist. Image: BFI/ File[/caption] A bronze-medallist from the Strandja Memorial Cup earlier this year, Lovlina defeated Russia’s Anastasiya Sigaeva 5-0 to be assured of a medal. She will next take on Belarus’ Alina Veber for a place in the final. Pooja rebounded from a shock loss at the India Open in May with a 4-1 victory over Russia’s Laura Mamedkulova. Neeraj also secured a 4-1 win over Russian Sayana Sagataeva. Jony clinched a 5-0 win over Belarus’ Anastasiya Obushenkova. Former Commonwealth Games bronze-medallist Pinki Jangra (51kg) was the only one among the Indian women to bow out in the quarter-final stage. The 2018 India Open champion suffered a 0-5 loss to Belarus’ Yuliya Apanasovich. Among the men, Ashish Insha (52kg) beat Azerbaijan’s Salman Alizade 4-1 to enter the quarter-finals. He joined 2018 Commonwealth Games gold-medallist Gaurav Solanki (56kg), GeeBee Boxing silver-medallist Govind Sahani (49kg) and 2018 India Open gold-medallist Sanjeet (91kg) in the last-eight stage. Six Indian men and five women were in the fray at the 21st edition of this tournament that features over 200 boxers from 21 countries.