New Delhi: The World Championships bronze medallist Simranjeet Kaur and three other Indian pugilists will look to confirm medals for the country as they will fight in the quarter-finals on second day at the 2021 ASBC Asian Boxing Championships in Dubai on Tuesday.
Sakshi (54kg), Jasmine (57kg) and Sanjeet (91) are the other Indians who will be in action in the last-8 stage of their respective categories at the prestigious event which is jointly hosted by the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) and UAE Boxing Federation.
The Olympic-bound boxer Simranjit will square up against Uzbekistan’s Raykhona Kodirova in the women’s 60kg quarter-final bout. Two-time youth world champion Sakshi will take on Ruhafzo Haqazarova of Tajikistan. In the women’s featherweight category Jasmine, who recently had a glorious maiden international outing at the Boxam Tournament where she clinched the silver medal, will be up against Mongolian boxer Oyuntsetseg Yesugen.
In the men’s section, second seeded Sanjeet, who received a bye in the first round, will face a challenge from Jasur Qurbonov of Tajikistan. Mohammad Hussamuddin (56kg) and Shiva Thapa (64kg), who are in action later in the night on Monday in the opening round bouts, will also compete in their respective last-8 round matches on Tuesday if they progress.
The prestigious event has been witnessing the presence of 150 pugilists from 17 counties including strong boxing nations such as India, Uzbekistan, Philippines and Kazakhstan. India’s best-ever show at the Asian Championship came in the last edition in 2019 in Bangkok where they secured an unprecedented 13 medals including two gold.