Young Indian boxers continued their dominance at the International Boxing Association (IBA) Youth World Boxing Championships 2022 (Men & Women). Seven of them entered the finals after their resounding victories in La Nucia, Spain.
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Meanwhile, youth Asian champions Vanshaj and Vishwanath Suresh marched into the men’s semi-finals along with Ashish to maintain the all-win record for India. While Kirti (+81kg), Bhawna Sharma (48kg), Devika Ghorpade (52kg) And Ravina (63kg) advanced in the women’s section.
At the same time, Chennai’s Vishwanath posted a 4-1 win over Puerto Rico’s Juanma Lopez. While Vanshaj (63.5kg) and Ashish (54kg), who are from Haryana, registered 3-1 victories against United States’ Deshawn Crocklem and Uzbekistan’s Khujanazar Nortojiev by 4-3 in their thrilling semi-final bouts.
Women boxers, on the other hand, registered comfortable wins apart from Kirti’s 3-2 win against Kazakhstan’s Assel Toktassyn. While Ravina and Bhawna defeated their Kazakh opponents Assem Tanatar and Gulnaz Buribayeva by unanimous decision. Devika of Maharashtra defeated Aameedah Joy of USA 4-1. Meanwhile, four other Indian women – Tamanna (50kg), Kunjarani Devi Thongam (60kg), Muskan (75kg), and Lashu Yadav (70kg) – signed off with bronze medals after their respective semi-final losses.
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However, Indian boxers have re-asserted their dominance at the Youth World Boxing Championships. 11 out of 17 quarter-finalists have confirmed medals, the most for any country in the ongoing edition, which has seen close to 600 boxers from 73 nations participate. Uzbekistan is second with 10 assured medals while Ireland and Kazakhstan are joint third with seven medals each. India’s dominance in the women’s section is another highlight of the tournament. Eight boxers have won medals, the most for any country, followed by Kazakhstan (5) and Uzbekistan (4). Bhawna and Devika along with all three male boxers will fight for the gold on Friday. While the others will play the finals on Saturday.
