Indian Boxers Assure 5 Medals At AIBA Women's Youth Championship

Indian women boxers are fulfilling their promise of displaying some of their best moves at the AIBA Women's Youth World Championships. In the quarterfinal, three of our boxers namely Jyoti Gulia (51kg), Shashi Chopra (57kg) and Ankushita Boro (64kg) won their matches and booked their place in the semi-final on Wednesday.

Earlier Neha Yadav (+81kg) and Anupama (81kg) had already won two medals since their weight categories attracted smaller size of the draws. So they jumped in the last-four stage.

Gulia won the first medal of the day as she beat Italy's Giovanna Marchese. The international pugilist displayed her aggressive self and kept Marchese on the backfoot since the beginning of their bout.

She won all three rounds that got her a unanimous score of 5-0 from the judges.

India had only won one medal last year in the championship. And we won our last gold medal in 2011

Then came Haryana-based Chopra’s turn who took on 10th seed Kazakh Sandugash Abilkhan. She did not have it as easy as Gulia as Abilkhan proved to be a tougher boxer to crack. The opening three minutes seemed hardest for Chopra. However, she fought back in the second and third round as she raised the tempo.

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Lastly it was two-time international silver-medallist, Boro who came in the ring to fight with Italy's Rebecca Nicoli. Hers proved to be the most draining of the bouts in all the Indian bouts played in the day. But that did not lower down the local favourite’s spirit and she defeated Nicoli with her tremendous footwork and reflexes.

While Nicoli was attacking Boro in all three rounds, it was Boro’s solid guard and quick movement that won her the match.

But Niharika Gonella (75kg) lost her bout and eventually came out without a medal. She played against England's Georgia O'Connor.

This is a huge boost for the Indian contingent as India had only won one medal last year in the championship. And we won our last gold medal in 2011. This championship is taking place in India for the first time and over 150 pugilists from 38 countries are participating in it.

Picture credit- Prokerala