World Championships: boxer Minakshi Hooda storms into final

Liverpool: Minakshi Hooda continued her impressive run to become the third Indian woman boxer to enter the final at the World Championships, beating Mongolia's Lutsaikhany Altantsetseg in the 48kg semifinals here on Saturday, PTI reported.

Minakshi, a former Asian Championships and World Cup silver medallist, registered a dominant 5-0 win over the 2023 world championships silver medallist in the 48kg semifinal.

With the victory, Minakshi joined Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Jaismine Lamboria (57kg) and heavyweight boxer Nupur Sheoran (80+kg), both of whom stormed into the finals with comprehensive wins on Friday.

Jaismine produced a clinical performance to defeat Venezuela's Omailyn Alcala 5-0 in the 57kg semifinal.

Heavyweight boxer Nupur Sheoran, the legendary Hawa Singh's granddaughter, was equally dominant in her 80+kg semifinals as she out-punched Seyma Duztas of Turkiye by the same margin.

World Cup gold medallist Jaismine had little trouble as she controlled the bout from long range, landing sharp, accurate jabs and hooks to which her opponent had no answer.

She will take on Paris Olympics silver medallist Julia Szeremeta in the final.

In a rematch of July's World Cup semifinal, Nupur once again prevailed, making optimal use of her height advantage to frustrate Duztas. She managed the bout well, landing accurate shots even as her Turkish opponent resorted to clinching.

Later on Saturday, Jaismine and Nupur will be in action alongside Pooja Rani (80kg), who will compete in her semifinal bout.

When the women boxers continued to dazzle, the men's campaign came to an end, following Jadumani Singh Mandengbam's 0-4 quarterfinal loss to reigning world champion Sanzhar Tashkenbay of Kazakhstan in the 50kg event.

With his exit, India's 10-member men's squad finished without a medal for the first time since the 2013 edition. The disappointing campaign comes on the back of 2023's high in Tashkent, where India returned with three bronze medals.