India, Nov. 16 -- Newly crowned world champion Minakshi Hooda and Paris Olympian Preeti Pawar delivered power-packed performances to advance to the semi-finals of their weight categories on the opening day of the Boxing World Cup Finals here on Sunday.

Minakshi (48kg) defeated Kazakhstan's Bolat Akbota 5-0, while Preeti (54kg) also secured an emphatic win over an aggressive Nigina Uktamova of Uzbekistan.

Preeti was returning to international action after more than a year. Her last competition was the Paris Olympics, where she lost in the round of 16. She subsequently lost her place in the national team to Sakshi Chaudhary but has now made a strong comeback with this tournament.

Her Uzbek opponent started aggressively in the first round...