Guwahati: Bouts on the final day at the AIBA World Women’s Youth Boxing Championship suspended for 45 minutes after a wire outside one of the stands caught fire at the Nabin Chandra Bordoloi indoor stadium.
The arena was thrown into darkness immediately after India’s Nitu bagged gold in her 48kg category bout. It later emerged that a wire had caught fire. While there was a spell of mild panic with supporters moving to the adjacent stand, there was no mishap during the episode.
“A wire, which passes through one of the doors, caught fire due to some damage when fans were allowed entry. Fortunately, this wire wasn’t connected to the main line and we avoided damage,” said RK Sacheti, executive director, Boxing Federation of India.
Nitu beat Kazakhstan’s Zhazira Urakbayeva in the final to claim India’s first gold medal since Sarjubala Devi’s gold in the 2011 edition of the event. Jyoti (51 kg), Shashi (57 kg) and Sakshi (54 kg) also clinched golds.
