Adriatic Pear boxing: After Alfiya Pathan's opening gold, India eye more

NEW DELHI: Asian junior champion Alfiya Pathan set the ball rolling the 30th Adriatic Pearl Tournament by winning the first gold medal for India, in the women's 81kg-plus category by defeating Daria Kozorev of Moldova 5-0 in in Budva, Montenegro.

Alfiya, who won the Asian junior crown in 2019, exhibited good fitness to notch up an easy win on Friday night.

With Babyrojisana Chanu (51kg), Vinka (60kg), Arundhati (69kg) and Sanamacha Chanu (75kg) also making it to the finals, Indian team is on track for more gold medals.

Alfiya, an 18-year-old from Nagpur, took control of the bout from the word go and with precise punches continued to collect points to score a comfortable win.

In the 51kg category, India's Babyrojisana Chanu faced a stiff challenge from Uzbekistan's Feruza Kazakova. But Babyrojisana managed to pull off a winning punch in the closing stages of the bout to score 3-2 verdict and sail into the final.

But it was an easy win for Vinka in the 60kg category. The Haryana boxer made lightwork of her Finnish opponent Suvi Tujula. Suvi was no match for the Indian as she conceded a series of punches, forcing the referee to stop the contest in the second round.

Vinka will face Kristian Kiper of Moldova in the final on Saturday night.

Arundhati Choudhary advanced into the final of the women's 69kg.

In the 75kg semi-finals, Sanamcha Chanu defeated Uzbekistan's Sokhiba Ruzmetova in a unanimous 5-0 win to stay on course for gold. It will be an all-India final as Sanamcha will face Raj Sahiba.

In the 48kg category, Gitika will face Uzbekistan's Farzona Fozilova in the final while Preeti (57kg) and Lucky Rana (64kg) will play their semi-final bouts on Saturday night.

In other matches, Neha lost her 54kg semi-final bout 0-5 to Claudie Totova of Czech Republic.

In the men's category, Priyanshu Dabas (49kg) and Jugnoo (91kg plus) will compete in the semi-finals.

Akash Gorkha (60kg) and Ankit Narwal (64kg) lost their bouts by 3-2 margins. IANS

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