Chennai, Nov 24 (Agency) Young Indian boxers continued their dominance at the IBAYouth Men’s and Women’s World Boxing Championships 2022 as Chennai-basedVishwanath Suresh and six others stormed into the finals recording stunning winsin La Nucia, Spain. Youth Asian champions Vishwanath Suresh and Vanshaj marched ahead alongwith Ashish to maintain an all-win record for India in the men’s semi-finals, whileKirti (+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 the48 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 andUzbekistan’s Khujanazar Nortojiev respectively in their thrilling semifinalbouts.Women boxers, on the other hand, recorded comfortable wins. Apart from Kirti’s3-2 victory against Kazakhstan’s Assel Toktassyn, Ravina and Bhawna outpunchedtheir Kazakh opponents Assem Tanatar and Gulnaz Buribayeva respectively byunanimous 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 DeviThongam (60kg), Muskan (75kg) and Lashu Yadav (70kg)—signed off with bronzemedals after defeats in their respective semi-finals. Indian boxers have reasserted their supremacy in this prestigious championshipas 11 out of 17 quarterfinallists went on to confirm medals–highest for any countryin the on-going edition, wherein close to 600 boxers from 73 countries haveparticipated. Uzbekistan was second with 10 confirmed medals while Ireland and Kazakhstanare placed jointly in the third position with seven medals each.India’s dominance in the women’s section is another highlight of the tournamentas eight pugilists have secured medals which is most for any country followedby 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.