Junior Indian boxer Muskan continued her brilliant form and progressed into the final on the fifth day of the ASBC Asian Youth & Junior Boxing Championships in Dubai.
Muskan (46kg), who hails from Haryana, blanked Yelyanur Turganova of Kazakhstan in a one-sided bout that saw the Indian boxer playing swift and smart boxing from a long range. She maintained her dominance throughout the three rounds and secured a unanimous 5-0 win.
In the Bantamweight semi-final, Aarzoo (54kg) faced tough competition from Uzbekistan’s Tileubergenova Guldana in an evenly contested bout. Both the boxers threw caution to the wind and continuously attacked from the beginning. The Indian pugilist gave her best but narrowly lost the bout 2-3 in an intense match.
Meanwhile, Devika (50kg) and Supriya (66kg) also lost their respective semi-final bouts and had to be content with the bronze medals.
In the Junior boys section, Rohit Chamoli (48kg) and Bharat Joon (+81kg) advanced into the finals after registering identical unanimous victories in their respective Last-4 bouts. On the other hand, Ankush (66kg) suffered a 0-5 defeat in his semi-final match.
Having already secured themselves and the country medals, nine Indian Youth pugilists, including four women, will aim for a spot in the final as they play their semi-finals on Day 6 of the prestigious continental event, in which both the age groups—junior and youth—are playing together for the first time.
Among men, Vanshaj (64kg), Daksh (67kg), Vishal (80kg), Abhimanyu (92kg) and Aman Singh Bisht (+92kg) will be seen in action while Simran Verma (52kg), Preeti (57kg), Preeti Dahiya (60kg) and Sneha (66kg) will fight in the youth women’s category.
India’s assured medal tally stood at over 20 on the day of the draws itself as many countries either skipped or fielded smaller squads due to the Covid-19 travel restrictions.
The gold medallists in the youth category will receive prize money of USD 6,000 while silver and bronze medallists will claim USD 3,000 and USD 1,500 respectively.
The junior champions will be awarded with USD 4,000 for gold and USD 2,000 and 1,000 for silver and bronze medallists respectively.
(With PTI inputs)