“When You Really Want to Win, You Win More”- IM Vantika Agrawal
Vantika was part of the women's team comprising Harika Dronavalli, R Vaishali, Divya Deshmukh, and Tania Sachdev, which won gold at the 45th FIDE Chess Olympiad .
Nikhat Zareen secured a medal for India and herself at the 2022 Commonwealth Games after storming into the semifinals of the women’s light flyweight boxing with a 5-0 win over Wales’ Helen in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.
Nikhat, who will receive his first CWG medal, was aggressive from the start against Jones. She landed a left jab early in the first round and remained unfazed by her opponent’s barrage of punches, expertly dodging them while landing the majority of her own to dominate at the National Exhibition Centre.
The Indian boxer barely had her guard up throughout the fight and cleverly mixed up her punches, using a left jab when Jones was close and a powerful right punch when she was away.
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The world champion consistently found gaps in Jones’ guard, and the outcome was predetermined before the third round.
Along with Nikhat, twice youth world champion Nitu Ghanghas and CWG 2018 bronze medalist Mohammad Hussamuddin are guaranteed medals in boxing at CWG 2022 after reaching the semifinals in their respective weight divisions and defeating their quarterfinal opponents in contrasting styles.
Nitu advanced to the final four of the women’s minimum weight division (over 45-48kg) when her opponent Nicole Clyde of Northern Ireland withdrew, while Hussamuddin won the men’s featherweight division by a 4-1 split decision over Namibia’s Tryagain Morning Ndevelo.
Olympic medalist Lovlina Borgohain will compete later tonight for her first CWG medal.
(Inputs from IANS)
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