Tough draws for Nikhat and Lovlina
4 months ago | 50 Views
World champions Nikhat Zareen and Lovlina Borgohain received tough draws while Amit Panghal and Nishant Dev have got first-round byes in the boxing competitions that begin at the Paris Games on Saturday. The competitive 50kg division has Nikhat pooled in a treacherous group that requires her to beat some high-quality opponents.The unseeded Indian opens her campaign against Germany's Maxi Karina Kloetzer in the Round of 32. Up next will be Chinese top seed Wu Yu who is also the reigning 52kg world champion as well as the 50kg Asian Games gold medallist. That will be followed by a likely showdown between either Chuthamat Raksat of Thailand or Uzbekistan's Sabina Bobokulova. Both pugilists seem to have a measure of Nikhat. While Raksat beat Nikhat in Hangzhou last year, Bobokulova got the better of her earlier this year in Strandja Memorial.In an earlier interview with HT, Nikhat had claimed that she was trying out a few tactics against the Uzbek and that she has developed a Plan B for each boxer.
Whether she will be able to summon those plans on Sunday is anybody's guess.Lovlina, the 75kg world champion and the Tokyo Games bronze medallist (69kg), is seeded eight and is on a collision course with Li Qian in the quarter-finals should both boxers win their initial bouts. Lovlina will meet Norway's Sunniva Hofstad in the first round while top-seed Qian will go against Hergie Bacyadan of Philippines.Li Qian beat Lovlina in Hangzhou last year but Lovlina had beaten Qian in New Delhi earlier that year at the World Championships.Jaismine Lamboria (57kg) will face an uphill battle against Olympic silver medallist from Philippines, Nesthy Petecio, in her opener. If she scripts an upset, Jaismine will have local girl and European Games gold medallist Aminia Zidani waiting.In the women's 54kg category, Preeti Pawar will take on Vietnam's Vo Thi Kim Anh in the first round followed by world silver medallist Yeni Arias of Colombia who has an opening-round bye.Among men, Amit Panghal's redemption arc in the 51kg division begins against Birmingham Commonwealth Games bronze medallist and African Games champion Patrick Chinyemba of Zambia in the second round.Panghal got the better of Chinyemba in the CWG semis on the way to gold medal semifinals on his way to the Commonwealth gold medal. If the 2019 Worlds silver medallist gets past the Zambian, he will likely face Thailand's Asian Games silver medallist Thitisan Panmot in the quarter-finals. In the same pool are Uzbekistan's 2016 Olympics champion Hasanboy Dusmatov and Tokyo Games bronze medallist from Kazakhstan Saken Bibossinov, but the two are likely to square off in the quarters.The other Indian male in the fray, Nishant Dev (71kg) seems to have the most favourable draw. The Olympics debutant has got a first-round bye, which means he will go up against Ecuador's Rodriguez Tenorio in his first bout. If Nishant gets past the first hurdle, he will most likely meet Mexico's Pan American Games champion Marco Verde in the quarters.
