India’s Akash, Vishvanath, Nikhil And Preet Storm Into Finals Of Asian U-22 & Youth Boxing

Asian Youth Champion Nikita Chand: Four Indian boxers Akash Gorkha, Vishvanath Suresh, Nikhil and Preet Malik advanced into the U-22 men’s finals at the ASBC Asian U-22 & Youth Boxing Championships 2024 here on Saturday.

Senior national champion Akash extended his dominant run in the 60kg category with a 5-0 win over Ilyasov Sayat of Uzbekistan in the semifinals.

After reviewing the bout, reigning Youth World Champion Vishvanath (48kg) won 5-2 against Baricuatro Bryan of the Philippines. The other two U-22 men’s semifinalists, Nikhil (57kg) and Preet (67kg) also won their bouts with a similar 5-2 scoreline after a bout review against Mongolia’s Dorjnyambuu Ganbold and Almaz Orozbekov of Kyrgyzstan, respectively.

Meanwhile, it was a heartbreak for M. Jadumani Singh (51kg), Ajay Kumar (63.5kg), Ankush (71kg), Dhruv Singh (80kg), Jugnoo (86kg) and Yuvraj (92kg) as they ended their campaigns with bronze medals following their losses in the U-22 semis.

Later on, Saturday night, nine women boxers, including Olympic-bound Preeti (54kg), will be in action in the U-22 semi-finals.

The U-22 finals will be played on Tuesday.

In the youth women’s semifinals played on Friday night, reigning Junior World Champion Nisha (52kg) and Asian Youth Champion Nikita Chand (60kg) along with five other boxers entered the finals.

Lakshay Rathi (92+kg), Annu (48kg), Yatri Patel (57kg), Parthavi Grewal (66kg), Akansha Phalaswal (70kg) and Nirjhara Bana (+81kg) suffered defeat to end their campaigns with bronze medals in the youth category.

The youth finals will now have 14 Indian pugilists with seven each in both men’s and women’s category fighting for the gold.

The finals for the youth category will be played on Monday.

Overall, the Indian boxers have secured 43 medals in the prestigious tournament, which has been witnessing high-voltage action with the presence of 390-plus boxers from more than 24 countries, including strong boxing nations such as China, India, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan fighting for the medals across 25 weight categories.