Nikhat Zareen said she won’t settle for less than a gold from the event.© Twitter
World champion Nikhat Zareen sailed to the quarter-finals of the women’s 50kg, but it was a curtain for Shiva Thapa when he crashed here in Sunday’s 63.5kg boxing match during the Commonwealth Games. While Zareen Helena knocked out Ismael Bagao of Mozambique to storm into the last eight round of the women’s lightweight category by RSC (Refree cancels the competition), Thapa lost 1-4 to world championship bronze medalist Scottish Reese Lynch, to make a disappointing exit from the games.
The first Indian boxer to take the ring on the day was no match for her young opponent as she dominated the match from start to finish.
The Indian used her rich experience to disrupt Bagao from the start. She came out offensively and used her combinations of left and right punches to overpower her opponent.
Zareen landed clean punches to her opponent’s face on the final round to completely shock her, forcing the referee to call off the equalizer with 48 seconds left.
Zareen then takes on the reigning Commonwealth Games bronze medalist Troy Garton of New Zealand in the quarter-finals, where a win secures her podium finish.
Zareen said she won’t settle for less than a gold from the event.
“I’m happy to have won my first fight and I’m looking forward to doing well in the next rounds. I’m only one fight away from a medal but I want to win gold from here,” she said after her fight .
Thapa started on a bright note, clearly outclassing his opponent in the opening round.
But overconfidence and lack of focus cost Thapa a lot of money in the next two rounds, as the Scot used his height and long reach to make clear punches.
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Going into the third and final round, Thapa was still in the game, but Lynch surprised his opponent with his aggressive approach, as Thapa had no choice but to defend.
In the end, the result fell rightly in Lynch’s favour, as he was the much better boxer in the match.
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