UP’s Astha upsets ex-WC medalist Niharika for gold
LUCKNOW: On a day when women boxers from Haryana made it six out of six gold medals, Uttar Pradesh’s Astha Pahwa hogged the limelight in the 2nd Youth National Boxing Championship at the National Boxing Academy at Rohtak (Haryana) on Friday, winning a gold medal.
Energetic Astha outplayed former silver medalist at the Junior Word Championship, Niharika Gonella in the 69-75 kg weight category by 5-0 in a dominant fashion. UP had a silver medal too when Ishmit Singh went down losing to Nitin of SSCB by 0-5 in the 75kg category in the men’s department, where boxers from the SSCB stable reigned supreme winning nine out of their 10 clashes.
Haryana’s Joni (57-60 kg), having missed out on the yellow metal last year, stepped into the ring with immense confidence and landed her vicious combinations to romp past her opponent with ease as she won with a comprehensive 5-0 score. After having missed out on a spot in the World Youth Championships (WYC) in 2017, the lass from Haryana feels this may help her get selected for international tournaments in the future.
“I had missed out on the WYC as I lost in the finals last year. This year, I did not want a repeat and worked double as hard to emerge as the national champion. I have done my bit and hopefully I will get selected for international tournaments in the future,” the soft-spoken Joni said after winning the crown.
In the 57 kg weight category, as expected, WYC gold medalist Sakshi dominated the summit clash to emerge as the national champion. However, another participant from WYC Niharika Gonella (69-75 kg) who also won a silver in the Junior World Championships was toppled over by Astha Pahwa from UP in dominant fashion.
In the men’s department, boxers from SSCB had made their way to all ten weight category finals. But only Satender Singh (81 kg) faltered at the final hurdle as he couldn’t defend his crown against Daman and Diu’s Ronak.
In the last clash of the day, in the super heavy weight category (+91 kg), Aman did not let the local lad Mohit breathe from the initial moments of the bout and kept landing his vicious combinations. In the second round, one of his jabs left Mohit reeling and blood oozed out of his mouth.