Local pugilists Devika Ghorpade and Laxmi Patil stormed into the semifinals of the girls under-17 boxing event at the ongoing Khelo India Youth Games on Tuesday.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. In the same class, Manipur's Tingmila Doungel got a walk-over after her opponent Anchal Singh (Uttar Pradesh) was found overweight.Devika, who won a silver medal at the National School Games last year, is aiming to win gold in her maiden Khelo India Games."The major hurdle is Haryana's Rinku and we will face one other in the semifinals. I am preparing myself for that bout," Devika said.Rinku beat statemate Rajni 5-0. The other semifinal will be between Assam's Priyanka Borah and Haryana's Tamanna.Maharashtra's Prajkta Shinde, who beat Mudrika Gururani (Uttarakhand) in the light bantam (52kg) class on the first day, went down fighting to Assam's Saraswati Boro 2-3. ...
