AIBA Women's Youth and Junior World Championship: Three Indians Assured a Bronze

Day three at the 1st AIBA Women’s Youth and Junior World Championships in Antalya, Turkey and it was a fabulous day for India as three Indian Women pugilist assured themselves of a bronze medal. Pwilao Basumatary (54kg) in the Youth Championships, Lalenkawli (46kg) and Nikhat Zareen (50kg) in the Junior Championships won their quarter-final bouts to make a place in the last four of their respective weight category.

The bout of the day was that of Pwilao Basumatary in the bantam weight class, who was up against Lyiudmila Shakhova of Russia. The national youth gold medallist in 2010 literally annihilated Shakhova as she went on to cement her place in the semi-final with a massive 30:13 win on points. Russian Women boxers are the best in the Championship and hence this victory comes as a big achievement for the Indian boxer. Basumatary, a silver medallist at the 2010 Senior Women National, had earlier doused Jihad Mezyan of Morocco 19:13 on her way to the quarters. Her next bout is against Thi Duyen Luu of Vietnam on the 29th of April.

In the junior section, Lalenkawli (46kg) was up against Albina Mambetova of the Kyrgyzstan. The reigning junior national champion made a meal of her opponent, pounding her to a 21:5 defeat. She led 6:3 in the first, 8:0 in the second and 7:2 in the third round to complete an emphatic victory. With this win Lalenkawli secured a place in the semi-final where she will meet Satoko Nakata of Japan.

Nikhat Zareen, in the fly weight category also marched into the semi-final of the competition crushing her opponent in the very first round. The referee, who had already given two standing counts, stopped the fight on the third occasion, as the 14 year old proved too much to handle for Elivira Voronkova of Russia. It was a great win for Nikhat considering she had upset a Russian junior national champion and a medal contender at the tournament. She will now take on Hanna Okhota of Ukraine for a place in the last two.

It was a bad day at office for Laxmi Wagh (63kg) though. The silver medallist at the 2010 junior national championships was out of sorts and was beaten by Olesia US of the Ukraine 23: 14 on points.

Indian pugilist suffered mixed fortunes on the second day of the competition, which only saw youth women in action. While Minu Basumatary (64kg), Pwilao Basumatary (54kg) and S Sarjubala Devi (48kg) notched up win in their opening bouts, Sanasri Brahma (51kg) lost out to Claudia Nechita of Romania; Anjali Machahari (57kg) and Heena Tokas (69kg) also went down to their respective opponents.

Minu Basumatary in the light welter weight category drubbed Sarah Close in hard fought contest. Minu, a silver medallist in the national youth championship had to dig deep to defeat her Irish opponent in the four rounds of boxing. The southpaw boxer took an early 2 point lead in the first round and held on to score a 19:17 victory by points. She will now take on Oksana Trofimova of Russia in the quarter-finals

Sarjubala Devi displayed exceptional grit and determination to overpower local girl Ayse Ozdemir in the light fly weight class. The national youth gold medallist dominated preceding in the ring from the get go and completely outplayed the Turkish opponent, defeating her 29:9 on points. She has now made a place in the quarters where she will face Xenia Jorneac of Romania. Coach D Chandralal believes Sarjubala is India’s best hope for a medal in the tournament.

A big upset to the Indian challenge at the championships came in the form of Sanasri Brahma, who lost out to Claudia Nechita of Romania in the second round. The southpaw boxer was leading 4:3 after the first round, but the Romanian staged a comeback in the second and went on to beat Sanari 25:16 in the end. The former junior national champion had defeated Wennie Verano of the Philippines in a lopsided contest in the opening round 27:7 on points.

In the feather weight division Anjali Machahari, the national youth gold medallist lost to her Tatiana Chibrova of Russia on points 17:15. The welter weight division saw, Hena Tokas, the silver medallist in the national youth championship going down to Clare Grace of Ireland in a one-sided contest. The Irish boxer took a big lead in the opening round and in the end proved too strong for the Indian. Hena lost 9:26 on points.

Warm RegardsBrig PK Muralidharan Raja, SM, VSMSecretary GeneralIndian Boxing Federation