Indian women’s boxing team make history
In a historic achievement, the Indian women’s boxing team secured a historic third place in the Nation’s cup. In the 6th edition of this tournament held in Serbia, India have bagged 1 gold, 4 silver and 1 bronze. Kazakhstan emerged as the winners followed by Russia. Read on to know more about this incredible feat.
Incidentally, this was the first tournament in which the Indian women were featuring under the tutelage of Gurbax Singh Sandhu. Sandhu is an erstwhile coach of the Indian men’s team since 1993. He also played an integral part in Vijender Singh winning a bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
About the Nation’s Cup
The 6th Nation’s Cup commenced on January 10 and was held in Vrbas, Serbia. 18 countries took part in this event. Moreover, all the bouts were fought under the new International Boxing Association(AIBA) technical rules. Herein, the boxers had to fight in three rounds lasting three minutes each.
Also, the tournament gains more importance owing to the fact that is the preparatory event for the AIBA Women’s World Championships. That tournament will be held in Almaty,Kazakhstan in May this year.
The women who made a mark
Haryana girl Neeraj won gold in her maiden outing in the 51 kg category. The current national champion triumphed against Kazakhstan’s Jaina Shekerbekova to bag India’s solitary gold medal.
Meanwhile, other boxers, Sarjubala Devi (in 48kg), Priyanka Chaudhary (in 60kg), Pooja (in 69kg) and Seema Poonia (in +81kg) settled for silver medals. They failed at the last hurdles in their respective competitions.
Filling up the tally, Asian Games bronze medalist Kavita Goyat won the bronze medal. She had to unfortunately forfeit her semifinal match after suffering a knee injury.
A major success for Indian women’s boxing
A success of this scale in a major tournament would boost the morale of the Indian women’s boxing team. It stands them good stead before the upcoming world championships in May. This historic performance will also instill confidence in the team to gun for gold in the world championships.
Coach Gurbax Singh also looked happy after his success in his maiden assignment. He said ” I am very happy with how the girls have performed in this tournament. We came here with just about 25 days of training and the girls have done us proud.”
