Glasgow, Jul 26 (PTI) Asian Games bronze medallist boxer Preeti Pawar hardly broke a sweat as she stormed into the women’s 54kg quarterfinals while Jadumani Singh also made the last-eight stage with a commanding win over his Pakistani opponent in the men’s 55kg in the Commonwealth Games here on Sunday.
The 22-year-old Preeti from Bhiwani won her pre-quarterfinals contest against Deborah Mtenje of Malawi via Referee Stop Contest (RSC) decision in the second round of the bout.
Preeti, who won a bronze in the 2022 Asian Games as well as a gold in the New Delhi World Cup last year, toyed with her opponent.
The Malawi boxer faced two standing counts, one in each round, and it was enough for the referee to stop the bout with 47 seconds left in the second round. Preeti got the unanimous nod of all the five judges in the first round.
The win puts Preeti one victory away from securing her maiden Commonwealth Games medal.
Jadumani is also one victory away from securing a medal after he beat Sumama Rehman of Pakistan 5-0 in the pre-quarterfinals.
The opening round was closely contested, with Jadumani earning the verdict of three of the five judges. However, once he had sized up his opponent, the Indian boxer took complete control, dominating the next two rounds and securing a unanimous 5-0 verdict from all five judges.
He faces Mwengo Mwale of Zambia in the quarterfinals on Tuesday.
Preeti will face Northern Ireland’s Nicole Clyde in the quarter-finals on Tuesday.
Clyde secured a unanimous decision victory against Ghana’s Nancy Bamfo in the pre-quarterfinals earlier in the day.
The two boxers are familiar with each other, having trained together as sparring partners in Belfast ahead of the Games.
“It was my first bout and I wanted to check how I manage in the ring. I was checking the environment of the ring in the first round before getting aggressive in the second,” Preeti told PTI.
“I have a good draw and I will give my best. Let’s hope for a medal.” PTI APA PDS TAP AM PDS AM AM
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