New Delhi: Indian boxers dominated the Asian Youth Championships, notching up six gold medals along with nine silver and five bronze in the event where the women’s competition was significantly depleted due to pullouts caused by coronavirus-related travel restrictions.
Preeti Dahiya (60kg), Sneha Kumari (66kg), Khushi (75kg) and Neha (54kg) clinched gold medals in the women’s draw.
Of the 10 women finalists, six directly made the finals because of the small size of their respective draws.
Dahiya defeated Kazakhstan’s Zuldyz Shayakmetova 3-2, while Sneha pummelled UAE’s Rahmah Khalfan Almurshidi to force a stoppage. Khushi defeated Kazakhstan’s Dana Diday 3-0.
Bishwamitra Chongtham (51kg) and Vishal (80kg) were the gold winners in the men’s competition.
The silver winners among the women were Preeti (57kg), Khushi (63kg), Tanisha Sandhu (81kg), Nivedita (48kg), Tamanna (50kg) and Simran (52kg).
Vishvanath Suresh (48kg), Vanshaj (63.5kg) and Jaydeep Rawat (71kg) ended with silver medals in the men’s competition.
Five Indian boxers, including one woman, had earlier claimed bronze medals in the youth event after losing in the semifinals.
Among the men, Daksh (67kg), Deepak (75kg), Abhimanyu (92kg) and Aman Singh Bisht (92+kg) bagged bronze medals, while Lashu Yadav (70kg) ended with a bronze in the women’s category.
In the last edition of the Asian Youth Championships, India had claimed 12 medals, including five gold.
The gold medallists in the youth category were awarded with $6,000, while $3,000 and $1,500 were given to the silver and bronze medal winners, respectively.
India had earlier won eight gold, five silver and six bronze medals in the junior competition, held simultaneously with the youth event for the first time. In all, India fetched 39 medals from the combined event, 14 of them gold.
—PTI

Press Trust of India