World Boxing Championships: Jaismine, Nupur enter finals, Minakshi assured of medal as men's team draws blank

Jaismine Lamboria and Nupur Sheoran cruised into the final while Minakshi assured India of a fourth medal in the ongoing World Boxing Championships but the men’s campaign ended without a podium finish for the first time in 12 years in Liverpool on Friday.

Jaismine produced a clinical performance to defeat Venezuela’s Omailyn Alcala 5-0 in the 57kg semifinal.

Heavyweight boxer Nupur Sheoran, the legendary Hawa Singh’s grand daughter, was equally dominant in her 80+kg semifinals as she out-punched Seyma Duztas of Turkiye by the same margin.

Meanwhile, Minakshi competing in the non Olympic 48kg category, outclassed U-19 world champion Alice Pumphrey by unanimous decision.

While the women boxers continued to dazzle, the men’s campaign came to an end, following Jadumani Singh Mandengbam’s 0-4 quarterfinal loss to reigning world champion Sanzhar Tashkenbay of Kazakhstan in the 50kg event.

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With his exit, India’s 10-member men’s squad finished without a medal for the first time since the 2013 edition. The disappointing campaign comes on the back of 2023’s high in Tashkent, where India returned with three bronze medals.

Apart from Jadumani, only Abhinash Jamwal (65kg) reached the quarterfinals while the rest made either first or second round exits.

India are assured of four medals in the women’s section through Minakshi, Jaismine, Pooja Rani (80kg) and Nupur.

World Cup gold medallist Jaismine had little trouble as she controlled the bout from long range, landing sharp, accurate jabs and hooks to which her opponent had no answer.

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She will take on Paris Olympics silver medallist Julia Szeremeta in the final.

In a rematch of July’s World Cup semifinal, Nupur once again prevailed, making optimal use of her height advantage to frustrate Duztas. She managed the bout well, landing accurate shots even as her Turkish opponent resorted to clinching.

Earlier, preferring to box on the back foot, Minakshi made optimum use of her long reach to dominate from the outset, landing straight shots at will while counter-attacking effectively.

She will face 2023 silver medallist Lutsaikhany Altantsetseg of Mongolia in the semifinals.

Jadumani bows out after valiant fight

The tenacious Jadumani Singh tested Tashkenbay of Kazakhstan to the hilt before bowing out with a 0-4 split verdict in a fast-paced men’s 50kg quarterfinal.

The disappointing campaign comes on the back of 2023’s high in Tashkent, where India returned with three bronze medals through Deepak Bhoria (51kg), Mohammad Hussamuddin (57kg) and Nishant Dev (71kg).

In the quarterfinal bout, the Manipuri put up an aggressive display, rushing forward to cornering the Kazakh boxer but the two-time Asian medallist landed some accurate punches to edge out Mandengbam 4-1 in the opening round.

Undeterred, Jadumani kept applying pressure though Tashkenbay’s slick defence and experience helped the latter dominate the second round on all cards, while the Indian was docked a point for excessive holding.

In the final round, Jadumani came all guns blazing, connecting some sharp right hooks, but by then Tashkenbay had done enough to secure his place in the semifinals.