Indian women ruled the roost at the Asian Youth Boxing Championship as World Youth Championship winner Nitu Ghanghas (48 kg), Lalita (69kg) and Manisha (64kg) secured three gold medals here on Friday.
The Indian team was at the second position in the medals tally with a total of 11 medals.
The lion-hearted Nitu comprehensively breezed past local boxer Nillada Meekoon to stamp her authority on the gold and pave the way for the others after India's first summit clash.
In the high-octane 64kg final, Manisha had to toil it out against Idimokh Kholova of Tajikistan as it went down to the wire. The Indian eked out the win via split verdict (3-2) and secured the second gold for her team.
Lalita had it easy as she maintained an impregnable defence while landing quick combinations to steamroll past her opponent with a unanimous decision to bring home India's third gold.
However, Ankit, the lone Indian male in the finals, faltered at the final hurdle as did three other female pugilists -- national champion Anamika (51kg), Sakshi (81kg) and World Youth Championship bronze medallist Neha Yadav (+81kg) -- to settle for silver.
India also secured two bronze each in the men's and the women's departments with Bhavesh Kattamni (52kg), Aman (+91kg) Divya Panwar (54kg) and Astha (75kg) lost in their respective semi-final bouts.
Even though the Asian Youth Championship served as a qualification round for the upcoming Youth Olympic Games, none of the Indian pugilists made the cut even after securing gold medals (the required criterion for qualifying) as only four weight categories in the women's section -- 51kg, 57kg, 60kg and 75kg -- will feature at the games in Buenos Aires.
Nonetheless, Jyoti (51kg), by virtue of securing a gold at the World Youth Championship in Guwahati in 2017 and her age falling under the category of the requisite guidelines, will have her sights set on the ultimate glory at the Youth Olympic Games in October.
The Indian contingent will have another shot at securing more berths for the Youth Olympic Games when they travel to Budapest in August.
--IANS
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