BOXER KALAIVANI MARCHES INTO FINAL OF ELORDA CUP

Indian boxer Kalaivani Srinivasan punched her way into the finals of the Nur-Sultan Cup with a scintillating performance in Kazakhstan late on Saturday. The Tamil Nadu boxer was at her dominating best and came up with a flawless outing to pick up a unanimous victory over Uzbekistan’s Farzona Fozilova in the women’s 48kg weight classification. In the men’s 48kg competition, Kuldeep Kumar up against local favourite Kairat Yernur showed great resiliency and calculated approach to pick up a narrow 3-2 victory to cruise into the semifinals.

However, it was curtains for Yashpal & Savita in the tournament. Taking on Kazakhstan’s Aslanbek Shymbergenov in the 71kg event, Yashpal fell by the wayside and lost 0-5 in quarterfinals, while Savita was handed a 0-5 drubbing by Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Japan’s Namiki Tsukimi in the 50kg category.

Elsewhere, Neema & Jyoti also exited the prestigious tournament after losing their respective semifinal bout 0-5 to Kazakhstan’s Anar Tursynbek & Uzbekistan’s Feruza Kazakova. Babita Bisht’s journey also came to an end as she conceded to China’s Zheng Lu by ‘Referee Stopping the Contest’ verdict .Jyoti (52kg), Neema (63kg) & Babita (81kg), however will be entitled to receive the bronze medal as they lost out in the semifinal.