Nikhat Zareen, Shiva Thapa ease into Strandja Memorial Boxing Tournament quarter-finals

Four-time Asian medallist Shiva Thapa (63kg) and defending champion Nikhat Zareen (51kg) on Wednesday sailed into the quarter-finals of the Strandja Memorial Boxing Tournament with resounding victories in their second-round bouts in Sofia, Bulgaria. [caption id=“attachment_7735611” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Nikhat Zareen. Twitter/@bigboutleague[/caption] The Indian was declared the winner after Asenova forfeited during the opening round of the bout. Local favourite Asenova was a former gold-medallist at the event, which is into its 71st edition this year. Former world bronze-medallist Thapa defeated Poland’s Pavel Polakovic 5-0 in his last 16 stage clash. He had received an opening round bye.   In other men’s matches, Duryodhan Singh Negi (69kg) and Mohammed Hussamuddin (57kg) advanced after winning their respective opening bouts. Singh defeated Poland’s Mateusz Polski, while Hussamuddin defeated France’s Enzo Grau. Both the results were split 1-4 verdicts. There was disappointment elsewhere as India endured six opening-round defeats on Tuesday evening. Among the men, South Asian Games gold-medallist Ankit Khatana (75kg), Asian silver-medallist Deepak Kumar (52kg), Narender (+91kg), and Naveen Kumar (91kg) made early exits. Nupur (75kg) and Lalita (69kg) were the ones to bow out in the women’s draw. Nupur was outpunched 0-5 by France’s Davina Michel, while Lalita lost 1-4 to Poland’s Karolina Koszewska. Khatana was beaten 0-5 by the USA’s Javier Martinez. Narender also lost by a similar margin to another American — Richard Torrez Jr. Deepak went down 1-4 to Spain’s Gabriel Escobar. Naveen lost 0-5 to Italy’s Abbes Mouhiidine. Four-time Asian medallist Shiva Thapa has got a bye into the second round where he will square off against Poland’s Pavel Polakovic. More than 30 countries are taking part in the tournament, featuring over 250 boxers.