Indian boxers put up a stellar performance at the AIBA Youth Men’s and Women’s World Boxing Championships as 8 boxers, including 7 women and 1 male boxer cruised into the final on the eighth day at Kielce, Poland.

All the 7 Indian women boxers performed flawlessly as the boxers had triumphed in their bouts to sail into the finals and would aim to clinch the yellow metal.

In the first contest of the day, Gitika (48kg) gave the Indian contingent a flying start with a brilliant 5-0 win over Italy’s Erika Prisciandaro. She will face Poland’s Natalia Dominika in the final. In another fight, with a great show of speed and skill, 2019 Asian Youth Champion Babyrojisana Chanu (51 kg) defeated Italy’s Elen Ayari comfortably. The Manipuri boxer fought intensely throughout the fight and bagged a unanimous 5-0 verdict in her favour. She will take on Russia’s Valeria Linkova in the finals on Thursday.

Poonam (57kg) carried on to her unbeaten International record as she thrashed Uzbekistan’s Sitora Turdibekova 5-0 with a solid performance to stage the final clash against France’s Sthelyne Grosy.

Vinka (60kg) displayed an equally brilliant performance to ensure a 4-1 victory on Veronika Gajdova of The Czech Republic.  She will take on Kazakhstan’s Zhuldyz Shayakhmetova in the summit clash. Rajasthan’s Arundhati Choudhary (69kg) also outperformed her competitor from Uzbekistan Khadichabonu Abdullaeva to record a resounding 5-0 win in the semi finals. She will lock horns with Poland’s Barbara Marcinkowska in the finals.

Sanamcha Chanu faced some initial resistance from local girl Daria Parada but after understanding her opponent’s strategy, Chanu bounced back strongly in the last two rounds to win the contest with a split verdict (4-1), in the 75 kg middleweight semi final game. She will challenge Kazakhstan’s Dana Diya in the gold medal bout.

Another star boxer, Alfiya Pathan (81kg) endured some tough competition from Poland’s Oliwia Toborek as she couldn’t find the momentum in the starting round. In the second round, she launched an all-out attack and continued in the next round too and in the process, recorded more punches than her competitor to sustain in a 3-2 split verdict in a busy and intense contest.
Alfiya will take on Moldova’s Daria Kozorev in the summit clash.

Sachin (56kg) was the only Indian Boxer in the men's category to cruise into the finals as he conveniently triumphs 2018 European Junior Champion Michele Baldassi of Italy 5-0 to fix summit game with Kazakhstan’s Yerbolat Sabyr. 

Other male Indian boxers, Bishwamitra Chongthom (49kg), Ankit Narwal (64kg) and Vishal Gupta (91kg) failed to progress further as they lost their semi-final fights and finished with bronze medals.

Overall, Indian Youth Boxing Team has scripted history by securing 11 medals. The former best was 10 medals that the Indian contingent clinched at the 2018 World Youth Championships held in Hungary.

All the women pugilists will play their final bouts on Thursday while Sachin will contest the final on Friday.