Sonipat, July 23: Uttarakhand’s Nivedita Karki put up a scintillating show, stunning reigning Youth World Champion Gitika to clinch the gold medal at the Youth National Boxing Championships here on Friday.
Nivedita, who made headlines last year after winning the gold medal at the Golden Girl Box Cup in Sweden, beat Haryana boxer Gitika 3-2 in a nail-biting women’s 48kg summit clash.
Haryana and Services Sports Control Board (SSCB) retained their team championships titles in the women’s and men’s category respectively in the tournament, which marked the return of domestic boxing action in the country post the COVID-19 pandemic.
Haryana concluded their campaign with 12 medals, including 7 gold and 5 silver, in the women’s category while SSCB finished at top in the men’s event with 10 medals (7 gold and 3 silver).
Following Gitika’s loss in the first bout of the day, Tamanna handed defending champions Haryana its first gold in the women’s category as she outperformed Rajasthan’s Anjali Choudhary 5-0 in 50kg final.
Neha (54kg), Preeti (57kg), Preeti Dahiya (60kg), Lashu Yadav (70kg), Khushi (63kg) and Deepika (+81) were the other gold medallists from Haryana in the women’s category.
Haryana boxers also impressed in the men’s event as they finished second with 4 gold and 5 silver medals.
Youth World Championships bronze medallist Bishwamitra Chongtham led the glorious run for SSCB in the men’s event as he blanked Himachal Pradesh’s Abhinav Katoch 5-0 to secure the gold medal in the 51 kg category.
Vishwanath Suresh (48kg), Vicktor Singh Shaikom (54kg), Vijay Singh (57kg), Ravichandra Singh (60kg), Jaydeep Rawat (71kg) and Deepak (75kg) were the others who claimed gold medals for SSCB.
The youth championships saw the participation of 479 boxers from across the country.
The event will be followed by the third edition of Junior Boys national championships and the fourth edition of Junior girls national championships which are scheduled from July 26 to 31.
The Youth and Junior National Championships provide a good opportunity for boxers to showcase their skills as the top performers will be selected for the 2021 ASBC Youth & Junior Boxing Championships which is slated to take place in Dubai from August 17-31. (PTI)
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