Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia), April 7 Reigning world champions Jaismine Lamboria and Meenakshi Hooda, along with two others, advanced to the finals at the Asian Boxing Championships here on Tuesday, bringing India's total number of finalists to eight.
Vishvanath Suresh (50kg) and Sachin Siwach (60kg) also secured impressive semifinal wins, while Akash (75kg), Lokesh (85kg), Narender Berwal (90+kg), and Harsh Choudhary (90kg) won bronze medals.
India will thus have eight boxers – six women and two men – competing in the final.
In the women's 48kg semifinal, Meenakshi confidently defeated Thailand's Thipsatcha Yodwaree 4-1, securing her place in the gold medal bout, where she will face local favorite Nomundari Enkh-Amgalan.
Jaismine also advanced to the finals after narrowly defeating Uzbekistan's Nigina Uktamova 3-2 in a hard-fought 57kg semifinal. The 2022 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist will face Thailand's Punrawee Ruenros in the title clash.
In the men's section, Vishvanath, who had stunned reigning world champion and world No. 1 Sanzhar Tashkenbay of Kazakhstan in the previous round, continued his impressive run with a dominant 5-0 victory over Jordan's Huthaifa Eshish to reach the final.
World Cup medallist Sachin (60kg) also impressed, posting a solid 4-1 win over Thailand's Sakda Ruamtham in his semifinal.
However, Akash lost 1-4 to Uzbekistan's Javokhir Abdurakhimov, while Lokesh was defeated 0-5 by Jasurbek Yuldoshev of Uzbekistan.
Asian Games bronze medallist Narender suffered a 1-4 defeat to China's Bayikewuzi Danabieke, with the bout being stopped in the first round due to a cut.
Harsh Choudhary also lost 1-4 to Tajikistan's Parviz Karimov.
In other key finals featuring Indian boxers, Preeti (54kg) will face Chinese Taipei's Huang Hsiao-wen, while Priya (60kg) will face North Korea's Un Gyong Won. Arundhati Choudhary (70kg) is set to meet Kazakhstan's Bakyt Seidish in her gold medal bout.
