Nikhat, Amit shine, 6 Indians reach final, Akash, Naveen win bronze medal

Sofia (Bulgaria), 11 February. Two-time world champion Nikhat Zareen and Commonwealth Games gold medalist Amit Panghal performed brilliantly at the 75th Strandja Memorial Tournament in Sofia, Bulgaria on Saturday, along with their four other teammates Arundhati Choudhary (66kg), Barun Singh in the final. Entered.

Akash (71kg) and Naveen Kumar (92kg) lost their respective semi-final matches and had to be content with bronze medals.

Nikhat Zareen (50kg) was in action in the first semi-final of the day. With the crowd's support behind Bulgarian boxer Zlatislava Chukanova, Nikhat started the bout cautiously, taking some time to get into rhythm, but never lost control and won the round 3–2.

Nikhat performed brilliantly in the second round, not giving any chance to his Bulgarian opponent to attack and delivering some accurate strikes. Nakhat continued his dominance in the third round and maintained his composure, giving his opponent no chance to make a comeback and winning the match 5-0. Neelkhat is now set to face Uzbekistan's Sabina Bobokulova in the gold medal match on Sunday.

It was an easy day for India's Amit Panghal (51kg), winning his third consecutive match 5-0. Amit faced Turkey's Gumus Samet and was in his element from the start. Amit used his experience to attack when needed and otherwise used his footwork to move away from the opponent's area.

The Indian boxer did not have to sweat much. They carried the momentum from the first round to secure an easy win to enter the final. Amit will face current world champion Sanzhar Tashkenbay of Kazakhstan on Sunday.

On the other hand, Arundhati Choudhary (66kg) easily defeated her opponent Jessica Trybevova of Slovakia to win 5-0. The Indian boxer used his smart movements and aggressive stance to dominate the entire match and enter the final by winning each round by a score of 5-0. Arundhati will face a tough challenge from current world and Asian champion Yang Liu of China on Sunday.

Barun Singh Shagolshem (48kg) continued India's dominance with a 5-0 win over Algeria's Khenoussi Kamel. Playing his first game of the competition after getting a bye in the quarter-finals, Barun looked lethal and made full use of his technical ability with sharp moves.

Sachin (57kg) was the last boxer out in the first session against Ukraine's Abduraimov Aidar and he did not disappoint. It took some time for the Indian boxer to achieve his feat in the match. The Ukrainian boxer played an aggressive role. Sachin lost the first round with a close score of 2-3.