Youth World Championships: Seven Indian boxers storm into semi-finals

A total of 11 Indian boxers will be in action in the on Day 8.

India’s Babyrojisana Chanu outclassed defending European Youth Champion Alexas Kubicka at the AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships as seven Indian boxers stormed into the semi-finals on Day 7 in Kielce, Poland.

Alongside Chanu, Arundhati Choudhary (69kg), T Sanamacha Chanu (75kg), Ankit Narwal (64kg), Vishal Gupta (91kg), Bishwamitra Chongtham (49kg) and Sachin (56kg) also won their respective quarter-final bouts to progress into the last-four stage.

With the confirmation of seven more medals, India is now assured of 11 medals from the ongoing Youth World Boxing Championships. Earlier on Day 6, Vinka, Alfiya, Gitika and Poonam had advanced into semi-finals and secured medals for the country.

In a clash between two strong gold medal contenders in the women’s 51kg category, the Asian Youth Champion Chanu put up a strong tactical performance. She did not allow her Polish opponent Kubicka to score any point before securing a comfortable 5-0 victory to move into the next round. Manipur boxer Chanu will now take on Lucia Ayari of Italy in the semi-finals.

Arundhati and Sanamacha were also dominant during their quarter-finals as Rajasthan boxer outpunched Ukraine’s Anna Sezko 5-0 while Sanamacha sent Russian Margarita Zueva packing with the referee stopping the contest in the second round.

In the men’s category, Asian Junior Champion Bishwamitra and Asian Youth Championship silver medallist Narwal also lived up to expectations and notched up easy 5-0 victories against Serbian Omer Ametovic and Brazil’s Ezequiel Da Cruz respectively. Manish (75kg) and Sumit (69kg) were the only two country’s boxers who suffered defeats in the quarter-finals.

Aiming to secure final berths, all the 11 Indian boxers will be seen in action in the semi-finals on the eighth day of the competition. With seven women in the semi-finals, India is placed at the top of the table alongside Russia with the highest number of boxers qualifying in the last-4 stage. While in the men’s section, India is placed fourth with four boxers in the semi-finals.

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