AIBA Youth Men’s and Women’s World Championships: Arundhati Choudhary, Babyrojisana Chanu advance to QFs

New Delhi: Khelo India Games gold-medallist Arundhati Choudhary (69kg) and Babyrojisana Chanu (51kg) advanced to the quarterfinals, while three others from the country also notched up opening-round wins at the youth world championships for men and women in Kielce, Poland. However, it was curtains for Vikas (52kg) and Arshi Khanam (54kg), who lost their second-round contests on Thursday. The winners, apart from Arundhati and Chanu, were Akash Gorkha (60kg), Sumit (69kg) and Gitika (48kg). Arundhati, a three-time gold winner at Khelo India Games, got the better of Colombia’s Deyaneira Casas Jerez, winning 5-0 to set up a last-eight stage clash against Ukraine’s Anna Sezko, who got a first-round bye. Chanu, a product of the legendary MC Mary Kom’s academy in Imphal, defeated Estonia’s Diana Gorisnaja to make the last-eight stage. Such was the Manipuri’s dominance that the bout had to be halted in the second round itself in her favour. Among the men, Akash defeated Germany’s Enrico Kliesch in a unanimous 5-0 decision, while Sumit out-punched Venezuela’s Rafael Antonio Perdomo in less than five minutes before the referee stepped in to stop the bout in the second round. Next up for Akash is Mongolia’s Gan-Erdene Ganbaatar in the last-16 stage, while Sumit will square off against Slovakia’s Ladislav Horvath. Gitika, on the other hand, comprehensively defeated Russia’s Diana Ermakova. She will face Kazakhstan’s Arailym Marat in the second round. However, Vikas went down to Mongolia’s Sukhbat Enkhzorigt in a 1-4 verdict. Arshi was also beaten by a similar margin in her clash against Uzbekistan’s Nigina Uktamova. India have fielded a 20-member team – 10 men and as many women – in the competition, which features 414 boxers from 52 countries.