Gaurav Solanki, Sonia Lather advance at Bosphorus boxing tournament
Naman Tanwar and three other Indian boxers lost their opening rounds in Istanbul. Two-time Olympian Shiva Thapa will be in action on Wednesday.
Indian boxers Gaurav Solanki and Sonia Lather made a winning start at the Bosphorus Boxing Tournament in Istanbul, Turkey on Tuesday.
Gaurav Solanki, a 2018 Commonwealth Games champion, beat Arapov Aidos of Kazakhstan by unanimous decision in the 57kg men’s category to advance to the quarter-finals.
Competing in the women’s 57kg, Sonia Lather too won 5-0 with the world championship bronze medallist dominating Argentina’s Rosorio Milogros. The 27-year-old from Haryana will take on local favourite Tugcenaz Surmeneli in the second round on Wednesday.
Four Indian boxers, however, suffered losses. Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Naman Tanwar went down 4-1 against Turkey’s Muhammed Baki Yalcin in men’s 91kg
Lalitha Prasad (52kg) lost to Kazakhstan’s Abdikadyr Damir 5-0, Prayag Chavhan (75kg) was beaten by Azerbaijan’s Sahsuvarli Karman while Pooja Saini (women’s 75kg) was defeated by Anastasia Shamonova of Russia.
On Wednesday, seven Indian boxers will be in action, including world championship bronze medallist and two-time Olympian Shiva Thapa, who competes in the 63kg.
Duryodhan Singh Negi (69kg), Brijesh Yadav (81kg) and Kishan Sharma (+91kg) in the men’s and Nikhat Zareen (51kg) and Parveen (60kg) in the women's will be others who will take to the ring.
A 13-member (eight men and five women) Indian boxing contingent was sent to the Bosphorus Boxing Tournament. It will conclude on March 21.