Eight Indian boxers, including seven women, assured themselves of at least a silver as they stormed into the finals of their weight categories at boxing’s Youth World Championships in Kielce, Poland, on Tuesday night.
Apart from these eight, three Indian boxers settled for bronze medals at the tournament, which makes this India’s all-time best performance in the tournament. The earlier best was the 10 medals India won in the 2018 edition in Hungary.
The young boxers who have entered the finals, which would be held after a rest day, are Gitika (48kg), Babyrojisana Chanu (51kg), Vinka (60kg), Arundhati Choudhary (69kg), Poonam (57kg), Thokchom Sanamacha Chanu (75kg) and Alfiya Pathan (+81kg) among the women, and Sachin (56kg) among the men.
Four of them — Gitika, Poonam, Vinka and Sachin — are from Haryana. In all, Haryana had contributed 10 boxers in the Indian squad of 20.
Women cruise
Gitika defeated Italy’s Erika Prisciandaro 5-0 to set up a clash with Poland’s Natalia Dominika, while Vinka prevailed 4-1 against Czech Republic’s Veronika Gajdova. Vinka will next take on Kazakhstan’s Zhuldyz Shayakhmetova.
Arundhati had little trouble getting past Uzbekistan’s Khadichabonu Abdullaeva in a unanimous 5-0 verdict. For the gold medal match, she will be up against Poland’s Barbara Marcinkowska.
Babyrojisana also notched up a 5-0 result against Italy’s Elen Ayari. She has Russia’s Valeria Linkova to contend with in the final. Manipur’s Babyrojisana is the reigning Asian youth champion.
Poonam sailed past Uzbekistan’s Sitora Turdibekova 5-0 and France’s Sthelyne Grosy awaits her in the gold medal bout. Sanamacha clinched a 4-1 triumph over Poland’s Daria Parada. She will square off against Kazakhstan’s Dana Diday in the final.
Alfiya was the only one among the girls who had to face a tough bout in the semifinals, before she prevailed 3-2 over Poland’s Oliwia Toborek. Moldova’s Daria Kozorez will be her final challenge.
One man standing
In the evening session, Sachin was the lone Indian to triumph, beating Italy’s Michele Baldassi. He will fight it out with Kazakhstan’s Yerbolat Sabyr for the top honours on Friday.
Asian youth silver winner Ankita Narwal (64kg), Bishwamita Chongthom (49kg) and Vishal Gupta (91kg) ended their campaigns with third-place finishes after they lost their semifinal bouts. Narwal and Chongthom lost in split 1-4 decisions to Kazakhstan’s Sabirzhan Akkalykov and Sanzhar Tashkenbay, respectively. Gupta was beaten 5-0 by Poland’s Jakub Straszewski. — TNS
