7 Indian boxers assured of medals at U19 Asian Boxing Championships

Bangkok: Indian boxers continued their march towards a significant medal count at the U19 and U22 Asian Boxing Championships with seven women pugilists assuring themselves of a podium finish here on Tuesday.

Competing in the U-19 category, Yakshika (51kg), Nisha (54kg), Muskan (57kg), Vini (60kg), Nisha (65kg), Akansha Phalaswal (70kg) and Aarti Kumari (75kg) reached the semifinals of their respective weight classes.

India is already assured of over a dozen medals in the U22 category and the contingent will be looking to bag as many gold medals as possible in the business end of the competition.

Yakshika began India's march in the last four stage with a hard-fought 3:2 split decision victory in the 51kg bout over Mukhtasar Alieva of Uzbekistan before Nisha showed her attacking prowess to force the referee to stop the bout against Milana Shikhshabekova of Kyrgyzstan in the 54kg contest.

Muskan then came to the party and earned a unanimous decision against Robiya Ravshanova of Uzbekistan in the 57kg quarterfinals and Vini then forced the referee to stop the bout in the very first round with a flurry of punches to knock out Adelia Asylbek Kyzy of Kyrgyzstan.

In the evening session, Nisha was the first to add another medal to India's growing tally as she dominated the three rounds against Yu-En Li of Chinese Taipei for a unanimous verdict in the 65kg quarterfinals.

Akansha then packed off Enkhgerel Gerelmunkh of Mongolia in the very first round in the 70kg bout to force a RSC before Aarti wrapped up the day with a 4:1 win over Zarina Tolybai of Kazakhstan.

Suman Kumari was the only Indian boxer to miss out as she went down 2:3 in a very close contest against Maftuna Musurmonova of Uzbekistan in the 48kg category.