Indian youth boxers Vishwanath Suresh and Anand Yadav produced gritty performances to make their way into the finals at the 2022 ASBC Asian Youth and Junior Boxing Championships in Amman, Jordan on Friday.
Securing victories in almost similar fashion against respective Uzbek opponents, Vishwanath and Anand (54kg) raised their games at a crucial time and tilted the results of intensely-fought matches in their favour.
Vishwanath (48kg) confirmed his second successive final appearance at the prestigious continental tournament after beating Miralijon Mavlonov by a split 4-1 decision. On the other hand, in the thrilling bantamweight semi-finals, Anand gave his all to secure a tough 3-2 win over Abduvali Buriboev.
The last edition's silver medallist Vishwanath will look to change the color of his medal when he takes on Kyrgyz boxer Ergeshov Bekzat in the final while Anand will fight against Eljay Pamisa of Philippines.
Meanwhile, it was heartbreak for Raman who ended his campaign with a bronze medal following a 0-5 loss to Uzbekistan's Khujanazar Nortojiev in the 51kg semi-final.
Later in the evening, three more Indian youth boxers, Vanshaj (63.5kg), Deepak (75kg), Aman Singh Bisht (+92kg), will play their respective semi-finals.
Indian boxers have secured 18 medals in the youth section, 12 in women and six in men categories. Among women, seven have sealed finals berths at the tournament where both the age groups of men and women--youth and junior--are being played together.
In the junior boys' section, Yashwardhan Singh and Rishabh Singh Shikharwar registered contrasting wins in the semi-finals late on Thursday night while five other boxers, Jayant Dagar (54kg), Chetan (57kg), Jackson Singh Laishram (70kg), Dev Pratap Singh (75kg), Gaurav Mhaske (+80kg), exited with bronze medals after losses in the Last-4 stage. Yashwardhan (60kg) outperformed Kazakhstan's Alexey Khavantsev 5-0 while Rishabh (80kg) secured a close 4-1 win against Choibekov Azim of Kyrgyzstan.
The tournament 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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