Shiva Thapa (63kg) and defending champion Nikhat Zareen (51kg) sailed into the quarterfinals of the Strandja Memorial boxing tournament with resounding victories in their second-round bouts in Sofia on Wednesday.
Also making the last-eight was Duryodhan Singh Negi (69kg) after a comprehensive 5-0 win over Ireland’s Kieran Molloy.
Nikhat was declared the winner after local favourite Sevda Asenova forfeited during the opening round of the contest. Thapa defeated Poland’s Pavel Polakovic 5-0 in his last-16 stage clash after he received an opening round bye.
In another men’s bout, Mohammed Hussamuddin (57kg) advanced after defeating France’s Enzo Grau.
There was disappointment too as Indians endured six opening-round defeats on Tuesday evening.
Among the men, Ankit Khatana (75kg), Deepak Kumar (52kg), Narender (+91kg), and Naveen Kumar (91kg) made early exits.
Nupur (75kg) and Lalita (69kg) bowed out in the women’s draw. Nupur was outpunched 0-5 by France’s Davina Michel while Lalita lost 1-4 to Poland’s Karolina Koszewska.
