The promising trio of Parveen Hooda (60kg), Arundhati Choudhary (70kg) and Preeti Pawar (54kg) stunned accomplished opponents to enter finals and make a statement on their international return in the World Boxing Cup Finals at the Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Indoor Stadium here on Tuesday.
Parveen, returning after her suspension for a whereabouts failure, shocked Poland’s World championships silver medallist Aneta Rygielska 3-2 in a hard-fought duel. Arundhati outsmarted Germany’s World Boxing Cup stage medallist Leonie Muller, with the referee stopping the contest.
Preeti, competing here after recovering from health issues, shocked Tokyo Olympics medallist and three-time World champion Huang Hsiao Wen 4-0.
Five other home boxers won their semifinals, as altogether 18 Indians reached the finals.
Parveen surprisingly secured a 3-2 verdict in the first round. Against the experienced Rygielska, who moved in to land a bigger volume of punches to take the last two rounds with an identical 3-2 margin, Parveen gave her best and sneaked through on overall scoring.
Explosive southpaw Arundhati, a former World youth champion who returned following a surgery on her left wrist, overcame a nervous start to inflict three standing counts on Muller.
Preeti was at sea against the taller Huang in the first round, but got a 3-2 decision in her favour. She improved her attack subsequently to win the bout.
Select results: Semifinals: Men: 65kg: Abhinash Jamwal bt Elvin Aliiev (Ukr) 5-0; 80kg: Ankush Panghal bt Marlon Sevehon (Aus) 5-0; 90kg: Issac Okoh (Eng) bt Naveen Kumar 5-0; 90+: Narender Berwal bt Daniyal Saparbay (Kaz) 4-1.
Women:48kg: Minakshi Hooda bt Bak Chorong (Kor) 5-0; 54kg: Preeti Pawar bt Huang Hsiao Wen (Tpe) 4-0; 60kg: Parveen Hooda bt Aneta Rygielska (Pol) 3-2; 70kg: Arundhati Choudhary bt Leonie Muller (Ger) RSC-R3; 75kg: Emma Sue Greentree (Aus) bt Saweety Boora 5-0; 80+: Nupur Sheoran bt Mariia Lovchynska (Ukr) 5-0


