Zareen, Solanki crash out in semi-finals

Istanbul, March 20 Indian boxers Nikhat Zareen (51kg) and Gaurav Solanki (57kg) settled for bronze medals after going down in their respective semi-finals at the Bosphorus Boxing Tournament on Friday.

Asian Championship bronze-medallist Zareen, who defeated world champion Paltceva Ekaterina of Russia in pre-quarterfinals and two-time world champion Nazym Kyzaibay of Kazakhstan in the quarter-finals in her last two bouts was up against the 2019 World Championship silver medallist Busenaz Cakiroglu of Turkey in the semi-final.

The opening round saw both the boxers playing a waiting game but the subsequent rounds saw both of them go into attack mode. But the home favourite landed more punches and secured a unanimous 5-0 win over the Indian pugilist.

Meanwhile, Commonwealth Games gold-medallist Gaurav Solanki, who notched up impressive wins in the previous rounds, faced Argentina's Nirco Cuello.

Solanki fought hard and displayed attacking prowess from the start but conceded clear punches in the dying minutes to lose 0-5 and bow out of the tournament.

Other Indian boxers, Sonia Lather (57 kg), Parveen (60 kg) and Jyoti (69 kg) exited with losses in their respective quarter-final ties on Friday. Shiva Thapa (63 kg) too had lost in the quarters to bow out.

India ended their campaign with two bronze medals.

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( With inputs from IANS )