New Delhi: Indian boxers Rohit Chamoli and Bharat Joon Sunday clinched gold medals at the 2021 ASBC Asian Youth & Junior Championships in Dubai after winning their respective final bouts. Whereas, Gaurav Saini had to settle with silver.
According to information received here, Rohit defeated Mongolia’s Otgonbayar Tuvshinzaya to hand the country its first gold medal at the ongoing championships. Playing in the junior bo’s’ 48kg final, the boxer from Chandigarh continued his impressive form in the prestigious continental event and showed good tactical brilliance.
After making a cautious start, Rohit’s timely and precise punches gave him an edge over his Mongolian opponent in a close-fought match as the Indian managed to secure a 3-2 win as well as the gold medal.
Bharat (+81kg) then added one more gold to India’s tally as the lanky boy from Haryana outclassed Kaza’hstan’s Yerdos Sharipbek and secured a win by unanimous decision. Meanwhile, Gaurav Saini suffered a 5-0 defeat against his Uzbek opponent Boltaev Shavkatjon (UZB) in the 70kg final and ended with a silver medal.
The India boys finished their campaign in the junior category with two gold, one silver, and three bronze medals. Earlier, Ashish (54kg), Anshul (57kg), and Ankush (66kg) claimed bronze after losing in the semi-finals.
Later, ten Indian boxers Muskan (46kg), Vishu Rathee (48kg), Tanu (52kg), Aanchal Saini (57kg), Nikita (60kg), Mahi Raghav (63kg), Rudrika (70kg), Pranjal Yadav (75kg), Sanjana (81kg) and Kirti (+81kg) will fight for gold in ‘he girls’ finals.
India have won six bronze medals in the junior event with Devika Ghorpade (50kg), Aarzoo (54kg), and Supriya Rawat (66kg) finishing i’ the girls’ semi-finals
In the last Asian Junior Championships held in 2019 in Fujairah, UAE, India had finished third with 21 medals (six gold, nine silver, and six bronze)-13 of those medals came’in the girls’ category (four gold, six silver, and three bronze) while eight medals were claime’ in the boys’ section (two gold, three silver, and three bronze).
The gold medallists in the junior category will be awarded USD 4,000 while USD 2,000 and 1,000 will be given to the silver and bronze medal winners respectively.
India’s 15 boxers will fight for gold as the finals of the youth event will take place on Monday. Nivedita (48kg), Tamanna (50kg), Simran (52kg), Neha (54kg), Preeti (57kg), Preeti Dahiya (60kg), Khushi (63kg), Sneha (66kg), Khushi (75kg), Tanishbir (81kg) will be in action in the women’s category while, among men, Vishvanath Suresh (48kg), Bishwamitra Chongtham (51kg), Jaydeep Rawat (71kg), Vanshaj (64kg) and Vishal (80kg) will play their finals.
