Gitika Narwal and Babyrojisana Chanu bagged gold at AIBA Youth Men’s and Women’s World Championships in Poland

Indian boxers Gitika Narwal and Babyrojisana Chanu bagged gold at AIBA Youth Men’s and Women’s World Championships in Kielce, Poland on Thursday.

Gitika clinched first gold as she outclassed Natalia Dominika of Poland in the 48 kg match with a unanimous verdict of 5-0 in the final. In the 51 kg category final, Chanu defeated Valeria Linkova of Russia 5-0 and ensured a second gold medal for India.

Five other female pugilists will fight for the gold later in the day. Poonam (57kg), Vinka (60kg), Arundhati Choudhary (69kg), Sanamcha Chanu (75kg), and Alfiya Pathan (81kg) will play in the finals against their respective opponents.
On Wednesday, Vinka (60kg) put up an equally impressive show to secure a 4-1 win over Veronika Gajdova of The Czech Republic. She will be up against Kazakhstan’s Zhuldyz Shayakhmetova in the gold medal bout.

Rajasthan’s Arundhati Choudhary (69kg) too outpunched her opponent from Uzbekistan, Khadichabonu Abdullaeva to register an easy 5-0 victory in the semis. She will take on Poland’s Barbara Marcinkowska in the final clash.

In the 75 kg middleweight semi-final clash, Sanamcha Chanu endured some early resistance from local girl Daria Parada of Poland but after gauging her opponent’s strategy, Chanu came back strongly in the last two rounds win the bout with a split verdict (4-1). She will take on Kazakhstan’s Dana Diya in the gold medal match.

Another star boxer, Alfiya Pathan (81kg) faced tough competition from Poland’s Oliwia Toborek as she couldn’t find her rhythm in the initial round. In the second round, she went for an all-out attack and continued her onslaught in the next round as well and in the process, landed more punches than her opponent to prevail in a 3-2 split verdict in a busy and intense bout.

Alfiya will be up against Moldova’s Daria Kozorev in the final.