Indian women boxers put on sensational performances as they made history at the AIBA Youth Men's and Women's World Boxing Championships in Kielce, Poland on Thursday, winning seven gold medals.
All the women finalists—Gitika Narwal (48kg), Naorem Babyrojisana Chanu (51kg), Poonam (57kg), Vinka (60kg), Arundhati Choudhary (69kg), T Sanamacha Chanu (75kg), and Alfiya Pathan (+81kg) secured first place in their weight categories. The women had previously won five gold medals at the 2017 Youth World Championships in Guwahati.
In a statement to the news agency, ANI, Boxing Federation of India President, Ajay Singh, said, “This has been an amazing effort from our youth boxers especially when the players had to be confined at home for most part of the last year and only make do with online training sessions. Our coaches and support staff did a stellar job despite the limitations and challenges. I congratulate all the winners on this unprecedented medal haul. This achievement is a testament of the talent we have in the upcoming generation of Indian boxing.”
What’s more, a 20-member team had previously scripted history at the on-going tournament by securing 11 awards bettering their previous best of 10 awards in 2018. The 10-day biennial tournament, which had the men’s and women’s championship played together for the first time during the 2018 event in Hungary, was highly competitive and featured 414 boxers from 52 countries.