Seven Indians in finals at Youth World Boxing Championships

New Delhi, November 24, 2022

Seven Indian pugilists chalked out contrasting victories to move into the finals of the Youth World Boxing Championships in La Nucia, Spain on Thursday.

Youth Asian champions Vanshaj and Vishwanath Suresh along with Ashish made ito the finals in the men’s section while Kirti (+81kg), Bhawna Sharma (48kg), Devika Ghorpade (52kg) and Ravina (63kg) progressed in the women’s section.

Chennai-based Vishwanath claimed a 4-1 win over Juanma Lopez of Puerto Rico, Vanshaj (63.5kg) and Ashish (54kg), both from Haryana, posted close 3-2 and 4-3 triumphs against USA’s Deshawn Crocklem and Uzbekistan’s Khujanazar Nortojiev, respectively, in their thrilling semi-final encounters.

Women boxers, on the other hand, recorded comfortable wins apart from Kirti’s 3-2 victory against Kazakhstan’s Assel Toktassyn.

Ravina and Bhawna outpunched their Kazakh opponents Assem Tanatar and Gulnaz Buribayeva respectively by unanimous decision. Maharashtra girl Devika got the better of USA’s Aameedah Joy with a 4-1 margin.

However, four other Indian women in action—Tamanna (50kg), Kunjarani Devi Thongam (60kg), Muskan (75kg) and Lashu Yadav (70kg)—signed off with bronze medals after defeats in their respective semi-finals.

Bhawna, Devika will fight for gold on Friday along with all three male boxers while others will play their finals on Saturday.

Indian boxers have reasserted their supremacy at the prestigious championships as 11 out of 17 quarter-finallists went on to confirm medals—highest for any country at the on-going edition, Uzbekistan is second with 10 confirmed medals while Ireland and Kazakhstan are placed jointly in the third position with seven medals each.

India’s dominance in the women’s section is another highlight of the tournament as eight pugilists have secured medals which is most for any country followed by Kazakhstan (5) and Uzbekistan (4).

NNN