Three medals assured in Junior World Women`s Boxing C`ship

New Delhi: Three Indian pugilists – Nikhat Zareen, Pwilao Basumatary and Lalenkawli -- assured themselves of a bronze medal in the first AIBA Women`s Youth and Junior World Championships in Antalya, Turkey.

Basumatary (54kg) defeated Lyiudmila Shakhova of Russia in the bantam weight class, while Lalenkawli (46kg) got the better of Albina Mambetova of Kyrgyzstan in the quarterfinals to enter the last-four stage of the event. Zareen, in the fly weight category, also marched into the semifinal of the competition crushing her opponent Elivira Voronkova of Russia in the very first round. The bout of the day was that of Basumatary, who was up against the higher-ranked opponent. The national youth gold medallist in 2010 literally annihilated Shakhova as she went on to cement her place in the semifinal with a massive 30:13 win on points. Basumatary, a silver medallist at the 2010 Senior Women National, had earlier defeated Jihad Mezyan of Morocco 19:13 on her way to the quarters. Her next bout is against Thi Duyen Luu of Vietnam on April 29. Lalenkawli, the reigning junior national champion, made a meal of her opponent, pounding her to a 21:5 defeat. She led 6:3 in the first, 8:0 in the second and 7:2 in the third round to complete an emphatic victory. She will meet Satoko Nakata of Japan in the next round.In the match between Zareen and Voronkova, the referee, who had already given two standing counts, stopped the fight on the third occasion, as the 14-year-old Indian proved too much to handle for the Russian. It was a great win for Zareen considering she had upset a Russian junior national champion and a medal contender at the tournament. She will now take on Hanna Okhota of Ukraine for a place in the last two. However, it was curtains for Laxmi Wagh (63kg), who lost to Olesia US of Ukraine.The silver medallist at the 2010 junior national championship was out of sorts and was beaten by 23:14 on points. PTI