Later thursday

Reigning World Champion Nikhat Zareen: Reigning World Champion Nikhat Zareen and Arundhati Choudhary secured comfortable wins and moved to the semifinals of the 75th Strandja Memorial Tournament in Sofia, Bulgaria on Thursday. In the first quarterfinal of the day, Nikhat (50kg) was in action against France’s Lkhadiri Wassila.

It was a close encounter from the get-go as both Nikhat and her opponent looked well-prepared to tackle each other's move. Nikhat used her quick movements and counter-attacking game to go ahead of her opponent in the first round. The second round started on a similar note as both the boxers were cautious and didn't commit much on the attacking front.

Though Nikhat managed to stay slightly ahead of her opponent in both rounds, it looked like the bout could go in anyone’s favour.