Balkan International Boxing Championship: India's women pugilists end tournament with five medals

Sofia: India’s women boxers rounded off the ‘Balkan’ International Boxing Championship by clinching five more medals including a coveted gold. [caption id=“attachment_4168817” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  India’s medal winners posing for a photo. Image Courtesy: Twitter @BFI_official[/caption] The country’s youth boxers had set the tone on Saturday by sweeping eight medals and also becoming the most successful team in the competition. The boxers were selected and sent for the prestigious championship, with an eye on the Asian Amateur Boxing Championship to be held in April next year. The idea was to groom a second set of women to augment the countrys bigger boxing stars. “It was a matter of great pride that the youth womens’ team clinched eight medals. But the elite category women too showed their progress by bagging five medals,” said BFI president Ajay Singh. Lalfakmawii Ralte (+81 kgs) was the star of Sunday. She outclassed Iryna, her Ukrainian opponent, 5-0 in the final to clinch the gold. Pwilao Basumatary (57 kgs) too put up a grand show, going down to Hungarys E Helena to settle for the silver. MK Devi Maisnam (54 kgs), Jyoti (64 kgs) and Nirmala Rawat narrowly lost out to their respective opponents in the semifinals of the championship to pick up a bronze each.