Pune, Jan 15 (PTI) Local pugilists Devika Ghorpade and Laxmi Patil Tuesday stormed into the semifinals of the girls under-17 boxing event of the Khelo India Youth Games here.

In the pinweight (46kg) class, Devika outboxed Goa's Aarti Chouhan 5-0 while Laxmi prevailed over Ayushi Awasthi of Madhya Pradesh in the light-fly (48kg) class, a media release said.

Devika is aiming to win gold in her maiden Khelo India Games.

"The major hurdle is Haryanas Rinku and we will face each other in the semifinals. I am preparing myself for that bout," said Devika.

Rinku beat statemate Rajni 5-0. The other semifinal will be between Assam's Priyanka Borah and Haryana's Tamanna.

Maharashtra's Prajkta Shinde went down fighting to Assam's Saraswati Boro 2-3 in the light bantam (52kg) category, it said.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra's challenge in the girls Under-21 division came to an end after Poonam Kaithwas went down to Haryanas Jony 5-0.

Meanwhile, the hosts have guaranteed six medals in the boys' categories.

In the boys' Under-17 light fly (48kg) class, Bishwamitra Chongtham defeated Punjab's Abhishek Singh by 4-1 score.

In 50kg, Shaikhom Singh defeated Delhi's Yash Kaushik 5-0.

Another Maharashtra pugilist to enter the semifinals was Yaiphaba Meitei, who scripted a 5-0 win over Bhinder Singh of Punjab.

Nikhil Dubey (middleweight, 75kg) and MD Rahil (welterweight) also booked berths in the boys Under-21 semi-finals with easy victories over Arshdeep Singh (Punjab) and Haryanas Sachin respectively, while Shahikant Yadav (light welter) got a walkover from Abhishek Yadav (Uttar Pradesh), the release stated.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)