Chennai: Young Indian boxers continued their dominance at the IBA Youth Men’s and Women’s World Boxing Championships 2022 as Chennai-based Vishwanath Suresh and six others stormed into the finals recording stunning wins in La Nucia, Spain.
Youth Asian champions Vishwanath Suresh and Vanshaj marched ahead along with Ashish to maintain an all-win record for India in the men’s semi-finals, while Kirti (+81kg), Bhawna Sharma (48kg), Devika Ghorpade (52kg) and Ravina (63kg) progressed in the women’s section.
While Vishwanath claimed 4-1 win over Juanma Lopez of Puerto Rico in the 48 kg category, Vanshaj (63.5kg) and Ashish (54kg), who hail from Haryana, posted close 3-2 and 4-3 wins against USA’s Deshawn Crocklem and Uzbekistan’s Khujanazar Nortojiev respectively in their thrilling semifinal bouts.
Women boxers, on the other hand, recorded comfortable wins. Apart from Kirti’s 3-2 victory against Kazakhstan’s Assel Toktassyn, Ravina and Bhawna outpunched their Kazakh opponents Assem Tanatar and Gulnaz Buribayeva respectively by unanimous decision.
Maharashtra girl Devika got the better of USA’s Aameedah Joy with a 4-1 margin. Meanwhile, four other Indian women in action—Tamanna (50kg), Kunjarani Devi Thongam (60kg), Muskan (75kg) and Lashu Yadav (70kg)—signed off with bronze medals after defeats in their respective semi-finals.
Indian boxers have reasserted their supremacy in this prestigious championship as 11 out of 17 quarterfinallists went on to confirm medals–highest for any country in the on-going edition, wherein close to 600 boxers from 73 countries have participated.
Uzbekistan was second with 10 confirmed medals while Ireland and Kazakhstan are placed jointly in the third position with seven medals each.
India’s dominance in the women’s section is another highlight of the tournament as eight pugilists have secured medals which is most for any country followed by Kazakhstan (5) and Uzbekistan (4).
Bhawna, Devika will fight for gold on Friday along with all three male boxers, while others will play their finals on Saturday.
