Bishwamitra Chongtham assures India of fourth medal at ASBC Youth and Junior Boxing Championships

New Delhi: India’s Bishwamitra Chongtham (51kg) sailed into the semi-finals along with three of his compatriots, assuring themselves of at least a bronze medal at the ASBC Youth and Junior Boxing Championships in Dubai on Sunday. Bishwamitra, a World Youth Championships bronze medallist, proved too strong for Kenzhe Muratul of Kazakhstan as he showed swift movement and technical prowess to secure an easy 5-0 win. Abhimanyu Loura (92kg), Deepak (75kg) and Preeti (57kg) were the other Indians to reach the semi-finals. In the middleweight quarter-final, Deepak, up against Iraq’s Dhurgham Karim, dominated the proceedings from the word go. He landed a flurry of punches on his opponent in the third round, forcing the referee to stop the contest. National champion Abhimanyu from Haryana also moved into the last four after defeating Kyrgyzstan’s Tenibekov Sanjar in a one-sided affair. The lanky Indian was declared as the winner with Referee Stopping the Contest (RSC) in the second round of the bout. In the women’s section, Preeti advanced to the semi-finals after outwitting Mongolia’s Tugsjargal Nomin with a victory via RSC verdict in the second round of the match. On the other hand, Aditya Janghu (86kg) was the lone Indian to suffer defeat on the second day when he lost to Kazakhstan’s Temrlan Mukatayev in the quarter-final bout. On the third day, six Indian boxers will be seen in action. Krish Pal (46kg), Ashish (54kg), Anshul (57kg), Preet Malik (63kg) and Bharat Joon (81+kg) will play their respective quarter-finals, while Gaurav Saini (70kg) will fight in the semi-finals. The on-going Asian Championships will provide 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 gold medallists in the youth age group will receive prize money of $6,000 while silver and bronze medallists will claim $3,000 and $1,500 respectively. However, the junior champions will be awarded with $4,000 and $2,000 and $1,000 for silver and bronze medallists respectively.