Asian Games 2023: The seventh day of the 2023 Asian Games is also going well for India. While India won five medals on the seventh day, it also confirmed three medals in boxing. Star female boxer Lovlina Borgohain has reached the semi-finals. With this he has confirmed the medal.
Indian boxer Preeti Pawar also secured the quota for Paris Olympics by entering the women’s 54 kg semi-finals on Saturday. Preeti has also assured herself of a medal. Along with Lovlina Borgohain, Narendra has also secured a medal by making it to the semi-finals.
19-year-old Preeti defeated three-time World Championship medalist and current Asian champion Zaina Shcherbekova of Kazakhstan 4-1. Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist Lovlina got a bye in the first round. She defeated Seong Suyeon of South Korea 5-0 in the women’s 75 kg category.
Narendra (92 kg) also made it to the last four stage by defeating Ramezanpour Delavar of Iran by the same margin. Lovlina and Narendra are one win away from securing the Olympic quota.
Sachin Siwach entered the quarterfinals of 57 kg category after getting a walkover from Turkey’s Abukutailah of Kuwait. But the journey of World Championship bronze medalist Nishant Dev ended with a 0-5 defeat to 2021 World Champion Sevon Okazawa.
Preeti started aggressively but her experienced opponent breached her defense several times. Despite this, Preeti remained unperturbed and scored 3.3 points in the first round. Took a lead of 2. In the last three minutes, both the boxers threw heavy punches at each other but they were not accurate. Fatigue overcame the Kazakhstan player and Preeti won by maintaining her aggression.
Earlier, Nikhat Zareen had also achieved Olympic quota. In the women’s category, boxers who reached the semi-finals in 50 kg, 54 kg, 57 kg and 60 kg and those who reached the finals in 66 kg and 75 kg will get quota for the Paris Olympics.