Five Indians get a shot at gold in world youth boxing
GUWAHATI: Two more Indian boxers punched their way into the finals of the AIBA Women’s Youth World Championships while a third – Anupama in the light heavyweight category – found her Russian rival too hot to handle.
The victories of NituandSakshih ave ensure d India five silver medals with three boxers having reached the finals on Friday. J yo tiGul ia (51 kg ), S has hi Chop ra (57 kg) and An ku shit aB oro (64 kg) reached the finals on Friday.
This will be India’ s best performance since the 2011 edition of the tournament when S ar jubal a Devi of Manipur had won a gold medal.
Nitu(48kg),t he first to take the ring, found the defence of China’ s Yuan Nie hard to break until the third round. A barrage of right straights in the final round impressed the judges.
Ni tu meet sK azakhstan’ sZ ha- zira Urakbayeva, who defeated Ireland’s Caitlin Fryers in a tough bout, in the light flyweight final.
The lively Sakshi (54 kg) had a relatively easier evening in the ring against Japan’s Irie Sena. The ferocity of the Ha ryan a girl’ s attack made the Japanese throw inthetowelhalf-waythroughthe second round.
Sakshi will be up against IvyJane Smith of England in the bantam weight final. Anupama (81 kg) proved to be the only disappointment, against Russia’ s Anastasiia Rybak.
“Our boxers have performed really well. But they know they have be at their best to cross the final hurdle,” India’s head coach Bhaskar Bhatt told HT.