Former world silver-medallist Sonia Lather (57kg) was among the three Indian women boxers who advanced to the quarterfinals, but the men were off to a disappointing start at the 70th Strandja Memorial Tournament in Sofia, Bulgaria.
World championships bronze-medallist Lovlina Borgohain (69kg) and Pwilao Basumatari (64kg) also made the quarters of the prestigious European event on Thursday night.
Sonia, who is also a two-time Asian silver-medallist, defeated Serbia’s Jelena Zekic 5-0.
Lovlina, a gold-medallist at the Indian Open last year, got the better of Australian Jessica Messina.
Pwilao endured a stiffer challenge from Bulgarian Melis Yonuzova before prevailing 3-2.
However, there was disappointment for the men with former Commonwealth Games silver-medallist Mandeep Jangra (69kg) and rookie Harsh Lakra (81kg) bowing out following opening round losses.
Mandeep lost 5-0 to Ukraine’s Viktor Petrov, while Harsh went down to Azerbaijan’s Rauf Rahimov.
India’s best-ever medal haul at the competition stands at 11, which came last year.
More than 300 boxers from over 40 nations are competing in the ongoing edition.
