New Delhi: National champion Rohit Chamoli (48kg) defeated Mongolia’s Otgonbayar Tuvshinzaya in an intense final Sunday to clinch the gold in the Asian Junior Boxing Championships in Dubai. Chamoli rallied after losing the opening round to prevail 3-2 in the hard-fought contest. Later in the day, Gaurav Saini (70kg) and Bharat Joon (+81kg) will fight for gold medals in the men’s competition.
India have already won six bronze medals in the junior event after Devika Ghorpade (50kg), Aarzoo (54kg) and Supriya Rawat (66kg) lost in the girls semifinals while Ashish (54kg), Anshul (57kg) and Ankush (66kg) also claimed bronze in the boys’ event.
In the last Asian Junior Championships held in 2019 in Fujairah, UAE, India had finished third with 21 medals (six gold, nine silver and six bronze).
The gold medallists in the junior category will be awarded with USD 4,000 while USD 2,000 and 1,000 will be given to the silver and bronze medal winners respectively.
A delighted Chamoli was overjoyed with his gold-winning feat and that however, is expected. “In spite of bad start, I was always confident that I could turn it around,” Chamoli said after the slugfest. “I gave it my all in the third round and my aggressive intent stood me in good stead. This will certainly motivate me to work that much harder. My goal is to win a medal at the Tokyo Olympics,” she added.
PTI