Nitu, Nikhat storm into finals

Lovlina, Saweety march into Championships finals with fluent wins over their respective rivals

Nikhat Zareen (50kg), Lovlina Borgohain (75kg), Nitu Ghanghas (48kg) and Saweety Boora (81kg) advanced to the final of the Women's World Boxing Championships with stellar semifinal wins here on Thursday.

While Nikhat out-punched Rio Olympics bronze medallist Ingrit Valencia of Colombia 50, Nitu eked out a 5-2 victory over reigning Asian champion Alua Balkibekova of Kazakhstan.

Two-time Worlds bronze medallist Lovlina beat Li Qian of China by a 4-1 margin to book her maiden appearance in the final of the prestigious back-to-back World Championships gold medals by outpunching the veteran Rio Olympics bronze medallist Ingrit Valencia of Colombia and securing a 5-0 win. Being at the top of her game, the 26year-old star pugilist utilized her quick movement and stellar strength to control the bout from the word go.

She maintained her composure going into the next few rounds and dominated the bout, giving her Colombian opponent no chance to make a comeback and sealed the win by unanimous decision. Nikhat will now face the twotime Asian champion Nguyen Thi Tam of Vietnam in the final on Sunday.

The on-going prestigious event is witnessing the participation of 324 boxers, including several Olympic medallists, from 65 countries fighting for the titles.

"Today's bout was my best. I feel like I play better when I face technical boxers. I have played her before and she's an experienced boxer. It was a clean game," Nikhat said.

After 20 high quality group stage games in the Women’s Premier League, a look into the Play-Offs with the Eliminator which sees Mumbai Indians take on UP Warriorz, at the DY Patil stadium here on Friday.

Mumbai Indians finished in second place with 12 points. UP Warriorz were one place and four points behind. Read on as we preview this match. This contest kicks off 19:30 pm.

Mumbai Indians had a slight wobble towards the end of the group stage but returned to