Though in the league stage Bullets had piped depleted Gujarat Giants 4-3, but in that match Gujarat were without Amit Pangal and former women’s world champion Sarita Devi while Bullets had blocked 57kg bout featuring Chirag, another of their heroes in the campaign so far.

With the return of these stars along with youth women’s (57kg) Poonam Punia who has won all her four bouts, Gujarat Giants are confident of putting it across their rivals.

Bombay Bullets will be hoping that their skipper Ingrit Lorena Valencia (women’s 51kg), Kavinder Bisht (57kg) and Emmanuel Reyas (91kg), each of who has won three bouts in the league stage, will find their A game on Thursday. Anand Chopade has a 2-2 win-loss record but he will have to face the redoubtable Amit Pangal.

The Bullets will be worried that they have not secured a point from their women’s 60kg boxers, Melisa Neomi Gonzalez and Monika, or from the Youth Women’s 57kg puglist Priya Kushwaha.

On the contrary, the Gujarat Giants’ weakest link appears to be the women’s 51kg boxer, Rajesh Narwal who beat Savita (Odisha Warriors) in her first bout but has faced defeat subsequently.

The other semifinal slated for Friday could well be termed a grudge match for Punjab Panthers who lost 3-4 to NE Rhinos. The Panthers will hope that their skipper MC Mary Kom, who missed the last league match owing to a bad back, will be able to take the ring against Nikhat Zareen and quell her challenge.

There is very little to choose between the two teams. NE Rhinos will draw encouragement from the fact that Nikhat Zareen (women’s 51kg), Mandeep Jangra (69kg) and Francisco Veron (75kg) have not lost a bout and accounted for more than half of their 19 points earned in the league.

For the Panthers, Mary Kom, Sonia Lather (women’s 60kg) and Naveen Kumar (91kg), who was rested during Tuesday’s loss to the Rhinos, are the unbeaten boxers, with the likes of PL Prasad (52kg) and Abdulmalik Khalakov (57kg) also raising visions of sustaining their good form in the semifinals as well.