India claim 5 gold, become champions at World Youth Boxing

Indians won as many as five gold medals in the Women’s World Youth Boxing Championships in Guwahati on Sunday. This is India’s best ever show at the event. Four boxers from Haryana & Assam –Nitu (48kg), Jyoti Gulia (51kg), Sakshi choudhury (54kg, Shashi Chopra (57kg) and Ankushita Boro (64kg) won gold medals for India in the finals, which were halted for 45 minutes by a minor fire mishap in the spectator stands. Two other Indians – Anupama in light heavyweight (81 kg) and Neha Yadav in heavyweight (+81 kg) –won bronze.

The first to get India a gold medal was Haryana’s Nitu in the light flyweight (45-48 kg). Her jabs and straights proved too much for her fancied Kazakh rival Zhazira Urakbayeva. She won by a 5:0 verdict. The championship was held in India for the first time where this is India’s best performance in the AIBA women’s youth event after 2011 when Sarjubala Devi of Manipur had won the lone gold medal.