Four Indian women pugilists enter final of Nation’s Cup in Serbia

Indian women boxers continued to pack quite a punch as four of them, including former World Championships silver-medallist Sarjubala Devi (48kg), entered the finals of the 6^th Nation’s Cup in Vrbas, Serbia where the country is now assured of six medals.

Sarjubala, the reigning national champion, defeated local favourite Gayane Panyan to enter the summit clash.

The others, who made the final cut are Priyanaka Chaudhary (60kg) and Pooja (69kg). Seema Poonia is also through to the final without fighting a single bout so far as her category features only three boxers.

Priyanka, on the other hand, got the better of Kazakhstan’s Rimma Volosenko, while Pooja also triumphed over a Kazakh rival in Valentina Khalzova.

Meanwhile, in the semifinals on Saturday, former Asian Games bronze-medallist Kavita Goyat will square off against Kazakhstan’s Dariga Shakimova. Another Indian to make the semifinals is Neeraja, who defeated Greece’s Aik Koutsogeorgopoulou.

She will next be up against Sweden’s Katrin Noren in the semifinals.

The tournament is the first for Indian women boxers under the tutelage of new coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu, who served as the men’s coach for more than two decades.