Jyoti upsets two-time world champion as three Indian boxers cruise into quarters at 72nd Strandja Memorial Tournament

New Delhi, February 24: Rising Indian boxer Jyoti Gulia produced a scintillating performance to upset two-time world champion Nazym Kyzaibay of Kazakhstan and progressed into the quarter-finals of women’s 51kg category at the 72nd Strandja Memorial Tournament in Sofia, Bulgaria.

The 2017 world youth champion Haryana pugilist Jyoti was clever with her footwork and showed great attacking display of boxing before outpunching experienced Kyzaibay by 3-2. Another Indian to cruise into the quarter-finals on the second day was Bhagyabati Kachari who outclassed Russian opponent Anna Galimova 5-0 in the 75kg category.

Meanwhile, in the men’s category, Naveen Boora also progressed into the last-8 stage with a 3-2 win over Armen Mashakaryan of Armenia B in men’s 69kg category. Boora will face Brazil’s Eravio Edson in the quarters late in the night today.

However, four Indian men made an exit with narrow defeats in the pre-quarters. Asian Championship silver medallist Kavinder Singh Bisht (57kg) went down fighting against Ukraine’s Mykola Butsenko 3-2 while Ankit Khatana (75kg) lost to Viktar Dziashkevich of Belarus. Sachin Kumar (81kg) and Naveen Kumar (91kg) also suffered 3-2 losses against Armenia A’s Gor Nersesyan and France’s Wilfried Florentin respectively.

Apart from Boora, Manjeet Singh (+91kg) will be seen in action on Day Three of the tournament.