Harpal Singh Bedi
New Delhi, 20 April: It was Indian women’s day at the AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships as seven of them along with one man compatriot sailed into the finals on the eighth day of the competition in Kielce, Poland on Wednesday..
All the 7 women boxers put up a flawless performance as they progressed into the finals and will be aiming to add the yellow metal to their name.
In total, Indian Youth Boxing Team have created history by securing an unprecedented 11 medals. The previous best was 10 medals that the Indian contingent won at the World Youth Championships in 2018 in Hungary.
In the first bout of the day, Gitika (48kg) set the tone with a resounding 5-0 win over Italy’s Erika Prisciandaro. She will take on Poland’s Natalia Dominika in the final.
In another bout, with a fine display of speed and skill, 2019 Asian Youth Champion Babyrojisana Chanu (51 kg) made light work of Italy’s Elen Ayari and won the match comfortably.
The Manipuri Boxer attacked throughout the bout with a lot of intensity and earned a unanimous 5-0 verdict in her favour. She will square off against Russia’s Valeria Linkova in the summit clash on Thursday.
Poonam (57kg) continued her unbeaten International record as she blanked Uzbekistan’s Sitora Turdibekova 5-0 in a power-packed performance to set up the gold medal clash with France’s Sthelyne Grosy.
Vinka (60kg) put up an equally impressive show to secure a 4-1 win over Veronika Gajdova of The Czech Republic. She will be up against Kazakhstan’s Zhuldyz Shayakhmetova in the title bout.
Rajasthan’s Arundhati Choudhary (69kg) too blanked Uzbekistan’s , Khadichabonu Abdullaeva 5-0 victory to set up title clash with Poland’s Barbara Marcinkowska .
In the 75 kg middleweight , Sanamcha Chanu survived some anxious moments against local girl Daria Parada of Poland but after gauging her opponent’s strategy, the Indian came back strongly in the last two rounds to win the bout with a split verdict (4-1). She will take on Kazakhstan’s Dana Diya in the gold medal match.
Star boxer, Alfiya Pathan (81kg) faced tough competition from Poland’s Oliwia Toborek as couldn’t find her rhythm in the initial round. In the second round, she went all-out attack and continued her onslaught in the next round as well and in the process, landed more punches than her opponent to prevail in a 3-2 split verdict in a busy and intense bout.
Alfiya will be up against Moldova’s Daria Kozorev in the final.
Among the men, Sachin (56kg) moved into the finals as he comfortably defeated 2018 European Junior Champion Michele Baldassi of Italy 5-0 to set up the summit clash with Kazakhstan’s Yerbolat Sabyr.
Three other men inaction- Bishwamitra Chongthom (49kg), Ankit Narwal (64kg) and Vishal Gupta (91kg) couldn’t progress further as they lost their semi-final bouts and signed off with bronze medals.
In total, Indian Youth Boxing Team have created history by securing an unprecedented 11 medals. The previous best was 10 medals that the Indian contingent won at the World Youth Championships in 2018 in Hungary.
All the women Boxers will play their final bouts on Thursday whereas Sachin will play the final on Friday.