Reigning world champion Nikhat Zareen and Arundhati Choudhary secured comfortable wins and moved to the semifinals of the 75th Strandja Memorial Tournament in Sofia, Bulgaria on Thursday.
In the first quarter-final of the day, Nikhat (50kg) was in action against France’s Lkhadiri Wassila. It was a close encounter from the get go as both the boxers looked well prepared to tackle each other’s move. Nikhat used her quick movements and counter-attacking game to go ahead of her opponent in the first round. The second round started on a similar note as both the boxers were cautious and didn’t commit much on the attacking front.
Though Nikhat managed to stay slightly ahead of her opponent in both rounds, it looked like the bout could go in anyone’s favour.
It was the third round in which Nikhat looked at her absolute best as she dodged her opponent’s attacks efficiently while delivering some quality blows.
Nikhat will now prepare to meet home favourite Zlatislava Chukanova in the semifinals on Saturday.
In the other match of the day, Arundhati Choudhary (66kg) showed a similar level of dominance against Matovic Milena of Serbia. Both the boxers played the game of patience at first, but it was Arundhati who took the charge as she initiated multiple attacks, winning the first round with ease.
Arundhati continued her momentum in the second round while being defensively solid in the third, blocking multiple desperate attacking attempts from the opponent to clinch a 5-0 win to qualify for the semifinals. She will face Jessica Triebeľová of Slovakia on Saturday.