New Delhi: India’s Rohit Chamoli and Bharat Joon clinched gold medals at the 2021 ASBC Asian Youth & Junior Boxing Championships in Dubai on Sunday.

Starting the day for India on a glorious note, Rohit defeated Mongolia’s Otgonbayar Tuvshinzaya to hand the country its first gold medal at the on-going championships. Playing in the junior boys’ 48kg final, the boxer from Chandigarh continued his impressive form in the prestigious continental event and showed good tactical brilliance.

After making a cautious start, Rohit’s timely and precise punches gave him edge over his Mongolian opponent in a close-fought match as the Indian managed to secure a 3-2 win as well as the gold medal.

Next in action, Bharat (+81kg) added one more gold to India’s tally as the lanky boy from Haryana outclassed Kazakhstan’s Yerdos Sharipbek and secured a win by unanimous margin. Meanwhile, Gaurav Saini suffered a 5-0 defeat against his Uzbek opponent Boltaev Shavkatjon (UZB) in the 70kg final and ended with a silver medal.

India boys finished their campaign in junior category with two gold, one silver and three bronze medals. Earlier, Ashish (54kg), Anshul (57kg) and Ankush (66kg) claimed bronze with their semi-finals finish.

Later tonight, 10 Indian boxers Muskan (46kg), Vishu Rathee (48kg), Tanu (52kg), Aanchal Saini (57kg), Nikita (60kg), Mahi Raghav (63kg), Rudrika (70kg), Pranjal Yadav (75kg), Sanjana (81kg) and Kirti (+81kg) will fight for gold in the girls’ finals.

India have won six bronze medals in the junior event with Devika Ghorpade (50kg), Aarzoo (54kg) and Supriya Rawat (66kg) finishing in the girls’ semi-finals.

In the last Asian Junior Championships held in 2019 in Fujairah, UAE, India had finished at the third position with 21 medals (six gold, nine silver and six bronze)—13 medals in girls’ category (four gold, six silver and three bronze) while eight medals were claimed in the boys’ section (two gold, three silver and three bronze).

The gold medallists in the junior category will be awarded with USD 4,000 while USD 2,000 and 1,000 will be given to the silver and bronze medal winners respectively. The on-going Championships provided the much-needed competitive tournament to the promising young talents at the Asian level after a gap of almost two years lost due to pandemic.

The event witnessed a thrilling action in the presence of pugilists from strong boxing nations like Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan to name a few. It is also the first time that both the age groups—junior and youth—were played together.

India’s 15 boxers will fight for gold as the finals of the youth event will take place on Monday. Nivedita (48kg), Tamanna (50kg), Simran (52kg), Neha (54kg), Preeti (57kg), Preeti Dahiya (60kg), Khushi (63kg), Sneha (66kg), Khushi (75kg), Tanishbir (81kg) will be in action in the women’s category while, among men, Vishvanath Suresh (48kg), Bishwamitra Chongtham (51kg), Jaydeep Rawat (71kg), Vanshaj (64kg) and Vishal (80kg) will play their finals.