Two-time world champion boxer Nikhat Zareen secured a Paris Olympics berth and assured herself of a medal as she cantered to the 50kg semifinals of the Asian Games in Hangzhou on Friday. Fighting in her third bout of the tournament, Nikhat needed less than three minutes to notch a facile RSC (referee stops contest) win over Nassar Hanan of Jordan in the quarterfinal. The reigning Commonwealth Games champion set the tone of the bout early on with a sharp jab. Nikhat continued to dominate with a flurry of accurate combination punches.
Such was her domination that the referee was forced to give the Jordanian pugilist three standing counts before calling off the contest.
World Championship bronze medallist Parveen managed to outplay local favourite Zichun Xu 5-0 to move to the quarters.
Lakshya Chahar, on the other hand, made a first round exit after he went down 1-4 to Kyrgyzstan's Omurbek Bekzhigit Uulu in the 80kg Round of 16 bout.
In the women's events, the semifinalists in the 50kg, 54kg, 57kg, and 60kg while the finalists in the 66kg and 75kg will qualify for the Paris Olympics.
The gold and silver medallists in each of the seven weight divisions in the men's event will receive Olympic quotas.
Indian women lose to China in handball
The Indian women's team put up a brave fight before going down 30-37 to hosts China in a Pool B handball match at the Asian Games on Friday.
The Chinese led 18-12 at half time and earned another 19 points in the second half, as against 18 scored by India, to emerge winners in the preliminary round Group B match at the Zhejiang Normal University Xiaoshan Gymnasium. The Indians hand begun their campaign with a difficult loss to Japan, against whom they struggled to get their acts right.
India earned a hard-fought draw against Hong Kong in their second match.
On the other hand, China entered the match against India on a confident note, following convincing victories over Hong Kong and Nepal.
China had won both their previous matches against India. Japan is leading the group
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