World champion Nikhat Zareen began her Commonwealth Games campaign defeating Mozambique’s Helena Bagao in the women’s 50kg boxing event in Birmingham on Sunday. However, former World championships bronze medallist Shiva Thapa lost to Scotland’s Worlds medallist Reese Lynch in a keenly-fought men’s 63.5kg pre-quarterfinal bout.
Nikhat, who won the 52kg World title in May, will meet Wales’ Helen Jones in the quarterfinals August 3.
It was a walk in the park for Nikhat, who maintained a good distance and landed combinations on counterattacks to take the first round convincingly. The Indian displayed more aggression and rained shots to the head in the next two rounds. Helena got a standing count before the referee stopped the contest in the final period.
