Asian Youth and Junior Boxing C'ships 2022: Yakshika, Vidhi enter medal rounds

Indian boxers Yakshika and Vidhi put up power-packed performances to enter the junior girls' semi-finals with identical victories by a unanimous margin at the 2022 ASBC Asian Youth & Junior Boxing Championships in Amman, Jordan on Friday.

While Yakshika outperformed Nepal's Swastika Tiruwa in the 52kg quarter-finals, Vidhi blanked Uzbekistan's Odinakhon Ismoilova in the 57kg category.

Starting the day impressively for India, Yakshika exhibited an excellent attacking display and her heavy persistent punches sent the boxer from Nepal stumbling on many occasions. She dominated the proceeding throughout the bout that ended in a one-sided affair with the Indian clinching it comfortably.Vidhi further extended India's winning momentum on the third day of the continental tournament when she pulled off an equally dominant win in the quarter-finals.

However, it was curtains for Tamanna, who gave her all during an intense junior girls 66kg Last-8 contest against Kazakhstan's Aruzhan Zhangabayeva but ended up with a loss by split 4-1 decision.

Having assured of at least bronze medals, Yakshika and Vidhi will now take on Kazakhstan's Shakhnaz Tairzhan and Hangoma Isoeva of Tajikistan respectively in their semi-finals on Tuesday.

Later tonight, the country's five boxers--Harish Saini (63kg), Jackson Singh Laishram (70kg), Dev Pratap Singh (75kg), Rishabh Singh Shikharwar (80kg) and Gaurav Mhaske (+81kg)--will look to secure themselves medals in the junior boys' category as they will fight in their respective quarter-finals matches.

In the youth men's match, played on Thursday night, the last edition's silver medallist Vanshaj made his way into the 63.5kg quarter-finals with an easy win by unanimous decision against the local boy Abdallah Almharat.

The ongoing championships, where both the age groups of men and women--youth and junior--are being played together, has been witnessing a strong competition in presence of 352 boxers from 21 countries including India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The finals will be played on March 13 and 14.

( With inputs from ANI )

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