Asian Elite Boxing: Lovlina, Shiva Thapa to lead India's gold medal charge after rest day

Asian Elite Boxing: Lovlina, Shiva Thapa to lead India's gold medal charge after rest day (Image Source: Google)

A total of 12 Indians will aim to seal their berths in the final as they contest the semifinal bouts in the 2022 ASBC Asian Elite Boxing Championships in Amman, Jordan. The semifinal bouts for the women's category will kick off on Wednesday and will be followed by the men's semis on Thursday.

The 2020 Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain (75kg) who is contesting in this weight category at an international tournament for the first time will take on Seong Suyeon of the Republic of Korea in her semi-finals bout.

Alongside Lovlina, the 2022 World Championships bronze medallist Parveen (63kg) will be up against Uranbileg Shinetsetseg of Mongolia while competition debutant Preeti (57kg) will be involved in a tough matchup against the 2020 Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Irie Sena of Japan.

The other four women in semifinal action will be Alfiya Pathan (81+kg), Saweety (81kg), Ankushita Boro (75kg), and Minakshi (52kg).

In the men's category, Shiva Thapa (63.5kg) who became the most decorated Asian Champion in history after ensuring his 6th medal in the competition will face two-time Asian Championships medallist Bakhodur Usmonov of Tajikistan.

The two-time Commonwealth bronze medallist Mohammad Hussamuddin (57kg) will go head-to-head against the 2021 World Championships silver medallist Serik Temirzhanov of Kazakhstan.

The other three men in semifinal action will be Narender (92+kg), Sumit (75kg), and Govind Kumar Sahani (48kg).

Narender (92+kg) dominated his way to the semis by comfortably defeating Iman Ramezanpourdelavar of Iran with a unanimous 5-0 verdict late on Monday night.

India's total medal count of 12 in this year's edition of the prestigious tournament is the third highest among all competing nations.

The women pugilists of the country have secured seven medals which ranks them second in the women's standings among all nations while the men's total tally of five medals places them joint third alongside Jordan and Mongolia in their respective rankings.

The competition is witnessing the participation of 267 boxers from 27 top boxing nations.

The final of the tournament for the women's category will take place on Friday and for the men's category will be conducted on Saturday.