Harpal Singh Bedi
New Delhi, 31 August: The quartet of Neha (54kg), Preeti Dahiya (60 Kg) Sneha Kumari (66kg), and Khushi (75kg) put up a superb display to emerge champions in the youth women section as India finished with 39 medals, including 14 gold, at the ASBC Asian Youth & Junior Boxing Championships in Dubai.
Neha (54kg) handed the country gold in the youth women’s event played late on Monday night. She managed to win against Kazakhstan’s Aishagul Yeleubayeva by a 3-2 verdict.
Later, Preeti Dahiya won gold with a similar margin in the 60kg final against the Youth World Championships silver medallist Zuldyz Shayakhmetova of Kazakhstan.
Sneha Kumari (66kg) and Khushi (75kg) claimed convincing victories in their respective finals
Sneha registered Referee Stopping the Contest (RSC) win over local favorite Rahmah Almurshidi, Khushi blanked Kazakhstan’s Dana Diday.
India had already won 19 medals, including eight gold, five silver, and six bronze medals, in the junior event played earlier.
The youth boxers added 20 more medals (six gold, nine silver, and five bronze) to take the country’s total tally to 39 at the continental event, where both the age groups—junior and youth—were played together for the first time.
After Bishwamitra Chongtham (51kg) won India’s first gold in the last seven years in the youth men’s category at the Asian Championships and Vishal (80kg) added one more yellow metal to the tally,
“This has been a brilliant outing for our junior and youth boxers. Winning 39 medals is a commendable achievement and it only shows the depth of boxing talent we have in India. As a federation, we are committed to identify and promote more and more youngsters from across the country, ensuring the best coaching and guidance to groom them into future champions at the elite level.” said Boxing Federation of India (BFI) president Ajay Singh.
” I’m sure the valuable experience gained in such a big tournament will help these boxers to curve a strong path for themselves. On behalf of the Boxing Federation of India (BFI), I congratulate all the winners once again and the coaches and support staff for this successful campaign, and wish them good luck for future tournaments,” he added.
With 20 medals in the youth event, India also bettered their last edition’s medals tally of 12 medals, including five gold, achieved in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia in 2019.
The gold medallists in the youth category will be awarded with USD 6,000 while USD 3,000 and USD 1,500 will be given to the silver and bronze medal winners respectively. However, gold, silver and bronze medal winners in the junior event were awarded with USD 4,000 while USD 2,000 and 1,000 respectively.
The Medal winners (India)
(YOUTH EVENT)
(MEN): GOLD: Bishwamitra Chongtham (51kg), Vishal (80kg);
SILVER: Vishvanath Suresh (48kg), Vanshaj (64kg) and Jaydeep Rawat (71kg);
BRONZE: Daksh (67kg), Deepak (75kg), Abhimanyu (92kg) and Aman Singh Bisht (92+kg).
(WOMEN): GOLD: Neha (54kg), Preeti Dahiya (60kg), Sneha Kumari (66kg) and Khushi (75kg);
SILVER: Nivedita Karki (48kg), Tamanna (50kg), Simran Verma (52kg), Preeti (57kg), Khushi (63kg) and Tanishbir Kaur Sandhu (81kg);
BRONZE: Lashu Yadav (70kg).
(JUNIOR EVENT)
(BOYS): GOLD: Rohit Chamoli (48kg) and Bharat Joon (+81kg);
SILVER: Gaurav Saini (70kg);
BRONZE: Ashish (54kg), Anshul (57kg) and Ankush (66kg).
(GIRLS): GOLD: Vishu Rathee (48kg), Tanu (52kg), Nikita Chand (60kg), Mahi Raghav (63kg), Pranjal Yadav (75kg) and Kirti (+81kg);
SILVER: Muskan (46kg), Aanchal Saini (57kg), Rudrika (70kg) and Sanjana (81kg);
BRONZE: Devika Ghorpade (50kg), Aarzoo (54kg) and Supriya Rawat (66kg).