Zareen, Panghal, 2 fellow Indians cruise to Commonwealth Games finals

India’s reigning world champion Nikhat Zareen, Amit Panghal, Nitu Ghanghas and Sagar Ahlawat all zoomed to the gold medal round of the Commonwealth Games 2022 after crushing their respective foes in the semifinals on Saturday in Birmingham, England.

Zareen, the flyweight titlist in the IBA Women’s World Championships 2022, proved too quick and too experienced for England’s newcomer Savannah Stubbley as the 26-year-old Indian star notched an easy 5-0 victory in their light flyweight (50kg) bout.

Defending Asian Games champ and world silver winner Panghal exploded in the second round to pulverize fellow Tokyo Olympian Patrick Chinyemba of Zambia, 5-0, in the men’s flyweight (51kg) class and get a chance to eclipse his silver finish in the previous Commonwealth Games.

Former two-time youth world champion Ghanghas sustained her stellar debut in the quadrennial meet as she forced a third round stoppage against Canada’s Priyanka Dhillon in their women’s minimumweight (48kg) brawl.

Another young hope in Ahlawat kept India’s hope of surpassing its three-gold haul in the 2018 edition as the national team rookie battere Ifeanyi Onyekwere of Nigeria, 5-0, in the men’s super heavyweight (+92kg) division.

Meanwhile, Mohammed Hussamuddin (men’s feather-57kg), Rohit Tokas (men’s welter-67kg) and Jaismine Lamboria (women’s light-60kg) settled for bronze after losing in their respective categories. Apart from India, the other Asian nations in the boxing competition of the 22nd iterion of Commonwealth Games were Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Malaysia.

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