LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND — Pooja Rani and Jaismine Lamboria both won their quarterfinal matches on Thursday, which means that India has won two more medals at the World Boxing Championships in Liverpool. After Nupur Sheoran’s triumph on Wednesday, this puts India’s confirmed medal count in the competition to three.
In a tough women’s 80 kg quarter-final, two-time Asian champion Pooja Rani used her experience to beat Poland’s Emilia Koterska by a narrow 3:2 split decision. Even though she started slowly, Pooja rediscovered her flow in the second round and kept up a solid defense to win her position in the semifinals.
In the women’s 57 kg category, Jaismine Lamboria, a gold medalist at the World Boxing Cup Astana, had a strong showing against Mamajonova Khumorabonu, the Under-22 Asian champion from Uzbekistan. Jaismine was in charge of the fight from the start, and she won by a clear 5:0 unanimous decision to move on to the semifinals.
Nupur Sheoran has already won a medal in the women’s 80+kg division. She made it to the semifinals after beating Oltinoy Sotimboeva of Uzbekistan.
The Indian team is aiming for further medals, as two more boxers will battle in their quarterfinals on Friday:
Meenakshi (women’s 48 kg)
Jadumani Singh Mandengbam (men’s 50 kg)
But for some other important Indian boxers, this was the end of the line. Cakiroglu Buse Naz of Turkey, who has won two Olympic silver medals, beat former world champion Nikhat Zareen in the women’s 51kg quarterfinals. Abhinash Jamwal, who won a silver medal at the World Boxing Cup, too had a bad day. He lost his men’s 65kg quarter-final match to Lasha Guruli of Georgia, who won a bronze medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
The World Boxing Championships in Liverpool, which will take place from September 4 to 14, are the first global championships organized by the new international regulatory body, World Boxing. India has sent a team of 20 people to compete internationally, and they are doing well.