Asian Games: Lovlina to lead Indian challenge as BFI announces 5-member women's boxing squad

New Delhi, March 14 (IANS) Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain and 2019 Asian Championship bronze winner Nikhat Zareen registered convincing wins over their respective opponents to seal their spots in the Indian women's boxing team for this year's Asian Games to be held in Hangzhou, China.

Both Lovlina and Zareen registered identical 7-0 wins over Railways' Pooja and 2019 World Championships silver medallist Manju Rani respectively in the finals of the Asian Games selections trials here on Monday.

While Lovlina qualified in the 69 kg category, Nikhat sealed her berth in the 51kg class.

Lovlina was very calculative in her approach and used tactical prowess to counter Pooja's aggressive instinct. The Assamese boxer evaded Pooja's counter-attacks and used her long reach to constantly pick up points.

In her final bout against Manju Rani, experienced Nikhat displayed a more clinical show technically and dominated all three rounds.

Throughout the contest, Manju preferred to play from long range and tried to catch her rival off-guard with her sharp punches but Zareen was up to the task and controlled the pace of the bout.

Both the boxers had qualified for the World Championships last week with Zareen sealing her place in the 52kg category and Lovlina in the 70kg division.

The duo will join Manisha (57kg), Jaismine (60kg) and Saweety Boora (75kg) in the Indian boxing squad for the Asian Games to be held in China from September 10 to 25.

With common weight categories for World Championships and Asian Games, Manisha, Jasmine and Saweety had already qualified for both the events in a joint trial held last week. World Championships is scheduled to be held from May 6 in Istanbul.

Asian Games squad:
Nikhat Zareen (51kg), Manisha (57kg), Jaismine (60kg), Lovlina (69kg) and Saweety Boora (75kg)