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Sakshi, Jaismine, Nupur clinch gold; India bags 11 medals at World Boxing Cup
Astana: India's women boxers spearheaded a memorable campaign as Sakshi (54kg), Jaismine (57kg), and Nupur (+80kg) clinched gold medals with contrasting victories at the second World Boxing Cup here on Sunday.
Their stellar performances helped India finish with an impressive tally of 11 medals — the country's best-ever haul at the event — comprising three gold, five silver, and three bronze.
Jugnoo (men's 85kg), Pooja Rani (women's 80kg), Hitesh Gulia (men's 70kg) and Abhinash Jamwal (men's 65kg) signed off with with silver medals after losing their respective finals.
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Sakshi was at her attacking best against USA's Yosline Perez to get a unanimous verdict from the judges in the women's 54kg final while Jaismine kept her cool under pressure to get the better of Jucielen Cequeira Romeu of Brazil 4:1 in the women's 57kg weight category.
Nupur then overcame the challenge of Kazakhstan boxer Yeldana Talipova to earn a 5:0 verdict in the 80+kg final.
In the first session of the final day, it was Sakshi who managed to stand atop of the podium with a stellar display that combined speed and combination punches and open India's gold medal account.
In the evening session, Jaismine had to use her long reach to keep her Brazilian opponent at bay in the third and final round after there was not much to separate the two after the first two rounds.
The tall 23-year-old stayed away from her opponent in the final round and landed punches on the counterattack to get the judges' nod.
Nupur also struggled at the start against Talipova as the home boxer took the opening round. But the Indian boxer completely dominated the next two rounds, landing punches at will and out-thinking her opponent to have the last laugh.
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Earlier, Meenakshi pushed hard for victory against local favourite Nazym Kyzaibay in the 48kg final but ended on the wrong side of a 3-2 verdict.
Jugnoo lost 0:5 against Bekzad Nurdauletov of Kazakhstan while Pooja went down by an identical score line against Australia's Eseta Flint.
Hitesh lost 0-5 against Brazil's Kaian Oliveira while Jamwal went down 2-3 against Yuri Falcao.
Sanju (women's 60kg), Nikhil Dubey (men's 75kg) and Narender (men's 90+ kg) had signed off with bronze medals.
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