Junior World Boxing Championships: Amisha, Prachi, Hardik sign off with silver; 9 Indian boxers to fight for gold

Indian boxers Hardik Panwar, Amisha Keretta and Prachi Tokas signed off with silver medals after suffering defeats in their respective finals at the IBA Junior World Boxing Championships in Yerevan, Armenia.

Asian junior champion Hardik (80kg) conceded a narrow 2-3 loss to Ashurov Bairamkhan of Russia in a closely-fought contest on Sunday.

Both the boxers looked aggressive in the bout, grabbing every opportunity to score points and keeping the spectators on the edge of their seats. However, the Russian did enough to tilt the result in his favour.

Meanwhile, Amisha (54kg) and Prachi (+80kg) suffered identical 0-5 losses in their respective final bouts.

While Amisha lost to Ayazhan Sydyk of Kazakhstan, Prachi gave her all against two-time Asian junior champion Sobirakhon Shakhobiddinova from Uzbekistan but fell short.

India have already secured 17 medals, including five bronze, in the ongoing tournament.

Payal (48kg), Nisha (52kg), Vini (57kg), Shrushti (63kg), Akansha (70kg), Megha (80kg), Jatin (54kg), Sahil (75kg) and Hemant (80+kg) are the country’s nine pugilists who will fight for gold medals on the final day of the competition on Monday.

Neha (46kg), Nidhi (66kg), Pari (50kg), Kritika (75kg) and Sikandar (48kg) had secured bronze medals earlier after concluding their campaigns in the semifinals.