Eight Indian boxers enter World Youth Championships finals

India had a fine day in the World youth boxing championships on Tuesday as all of its seven women in the semifinals registered wins to advance to the finals.

Arundhati stormed into the finals.

Eight Indian boxers, including seven women, stormed into the finals of the Youth World Championships in Kielce, Poland, an unprecedented achievement for India.

Three others from India settled for bronze medals.

Indian pugilists have done enough to ensure it betters its performance during the 2018 edition of the competition, in Hungary, when it won 10 medals.

The ones who made the finals, to be held on Thursday after a rest day on Wednesday, were Gitika (48kg), Babyrojisana Chanu (51kg), Vinka (60kg), Arundhati Choudhary (69kg), Poonam (57kg), Thokchom Sanamachu Chanu (75kg) and Alfiya Pathan (+81kg) among women. Among men, only Sachin (56kg) made the summit clash while three others signed off with bronze medals.

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.

READ: World youth boxing championships: Arundhati enters semifinals

Arundhati had little trouble getting past Uzbekistan’s Khadichabonu Abdullaeva in a unanimous 5-0 verdict and she will be up against Poland’s Barbara Marcinkowska in her summit showdown.

Vinka celebrates after winning her semifinal bout. - SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

 

Babyrojisana, the Asian youth champion, defeated Italy’s Elen Ayari. She will face Russia’s Valeriia Linkova in the final.

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 her last bout of the event.

Alfiya had a tough contest against Poland’s Oliwia Toborek but did enough to prevail 3-2. Moldova’s Daria Kozorez will be her opponent in the final. 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.

Semifinal defeats

Asian youth silver-winner Ankita Narwal (64kg), Bishwamita Chongthom (49kg) and Vishal Gupta (91kg) ended their campaigns with third-place finishes following semifinal defeats. Ankit and Bishwamitra lost in split 4-1 decisions to Kazakhstan’s Sabirzhan Akkalykov and Sanzhar Tashkenbay, respectively.

Vishal was beaten 5-0 by Poland’s Jakub Straszewski.