NEW DELHI: Nitu Ghanghas walked into the ring and started as if she was in a hurry to finish the job at hand and go someplace else.
She unleashed a flurry of punches and multiple left hooks on Canada's Priyanka Dhillon to leave her opponent gasping for breath and walked away with the honours in a dominating fashion to seal her berth in the final of the women's 48kg division at the Birmingham CWG on Saturday.
Nitu's convincing win has assured the two-time World youth champion of at least a silver-finish at the Games. In the gold medal bout, which will be played on Sunday, the 21-year-old Nitu from Haryana's Bhiwani district will lock horns with England's Demie-Jade Resztan, a bronze medallist in the light flyweight category at the 2019 women's World Championships.
For Nitu, who is making her CWG debut, the path to her final journey has been rather straightforward. The Strandja Memorial gold medallist doesn't believe in dragging the contest to full three rounds. In her opening match against Northern Ireland's Nicole Clyde - which was also the quarterfinal - Nitu simply demolished her opponent with her open guard and combination punches, prompting the referee to twice give Clyde a count of eight on the standing in the first and the second rounds. Ultimately, in the third and the final round, Clyde decided to retire after her coach threw in the towel.
A similar fate awaited Dhillon in the semis, as Nitu's ferocious one-two combination punches and her straight jabs forced the referee to give the Canadian count on the standing on two occasions - in the second and third rounds - to finally stop the contest with a minute and 42 seconds still left on the clock. Nitu was adjudged winner by RSC (Referee Stops Contest).
"I checked out my opponent in the beginning for 5-10 seconds before attacking her with my punches. I was told to follow the instructions from the coach's ringside corner and simply executed them in the ring. The plan was simply - attack and play with an open guard," Nitu said after her win.
