Nicola Adams’ pursuit of a first World Championship title continues on Day 5 as all Quarter-Final places are confirmed
May 23rd, 2016 / IBA, Astana 2016
A strong Monday afternoon session at the 2016 AIBA Women’s World Championships for the North American teams, and an impressive performance by the Philippine’s 2012 World Champion Josie Gabuco, helped guarantee fourteen nations qualified at least one boxer to the last eight of the light flyweight, light welterweight and heavyweight competitions.
In the evening session, Olympic Champion Nicola Adams’ opening-round patience paid off as she comfortably negotiated her way through a tough encounter with the tall Azeri Anna Alimardanova. Adams grew in confidence as the bout went on, and the Olympic qualifier, eager to add the World title to her collection, will now face Chinese Taipei’s Yu-Ting Lin for a place in Thursday’s semi-final.
Ren Cancan summoned all her experience to defeat Russian second seed Elena Saveleva, and China’s triple World Champion will meet Sarah Ourahmoune of France in the quarters. After defeating five-time World Champion MC Mary Kom, German Azize Nimani continued her brilliant run in Astana against Italy’s European champion Marzia Davide.
“I cannot believe I am in the last eight of the World Championships but I know my most important contest is still coming tomorrow. I am satisfied with my performance against the strong Italian and I will be fighting for my dream tomorrow,” said a delighted Azize Nimani after her win.
With a record sixth World title and a place at Rio 2016 on her mind, Katie Taylor landed some powerful early blows to impose herself on Argentina’s Dayana Sanchez. The South American could find little reply to the defending champion’s relentless attacks, and after Saturday’s tough opening bout, the unanimous points win will provide the perfect tonic for Taylor’s crucial Quarter-Final against Mexican revelation Victoria Torres.
Yana Alekseevna and New Zealand’s Alexis Pritchard both struggled to find their range in the first two rounds of their bout, but the Azeri landed the bigger punches in the third and fourth to earn a split decision and a Quarter-Final place against France’s Estelle Mossely. Russian World Light Welterweight Champion Anastasiia Beliakova proved too quick for Brazil’s Adriana Araujo and will meet Moroccan Hasnaa Lachgar in Tuesday’s quarter-final.
