Former youth world champion Jyoti Gulia (51kg) stunned two-time world champion Nazym Kyzaibay of Kazakhstan and progressed into the quarter-finals at the 72nd Strandja Memorial Tournament on Wednesday.
The 2017 youth world championships gold medallist beat Kyzaibay 3-2. Bhagyabati Kachari (75kg) also reached the quarter-final after beating Russian opponent Anna Galimova 5-0.
Meanwhile, in the men’s category, Naveen Boora also progressed into the last eight with a 3-2 win over Armen Mashakaryan of Armenia in the men’s 69kg category. Boora will face Brazil’s Eravio Edson in the quarters late in the night today.
However, four Indian men made an exit with narrow defeats in the pre-quarters. Asian Championship silver medallist Kavinder Singh Bisht (57kg) lost to Ukraine’s Mykola Butsenko 3-2 while Ankit Khatana (75kg) lost to Viktar Dziashkevich of Belarus. Sachin Kumar (81kg) and Naveen Kumar (91kg) also suffered 3-2 losses against Armenian Gor Nersesyan and France’s Wilfried Florentin respectively.
India had sent a 12-member team for the event — seven men and five women.
