Three Indians enter finals

Contrasting wins for Jyoti, Shashi and Ankushita

Crowd favourite: Ankushita Boro, right, rode on the rousing local support to beat Thailand’s Thanchanok Saksri.

India stepped up its performance in the World youth women boxing championship with three of its four boxers in action at the N.C. Bordoloi Indoor Stadium here on Friday booking berths in the finals.

Jyoti Gulia (51kg), Shashi Chopra (57kg) and Ankushita Boro (64kg) won their semifinal bouts and gave the host a chance to finish among the top nations in the event.

Neha Yadav (+81kg), who had a direct entry to the last four, was the only one to lose.

Jyoti managed to scrape past Kazakh boxer Zhansaya Abdraimova 4-1. The shorter Indian started off executing her combinations well but was taken aback by the Kazakh’s change of strategy. Zhansaya cornered Jyoti and landed some good ones.

Jyoti improved her movement in the final round and mixed her right jabs and left hooks to set up a title clash with Russian Ekaterina Molchanova.

“I could not move properly in the second round. I will work harder on my game before the final,” said Jyoti.

Shashi convincingly defeated Mongolian Namuun Monkhor 5-0.

The lanky Indian’s long reach and combination of straight punches helped her curb the aggression of the Mongolian, who received a standing count in the second round.

Namuun’s last ditch effort was in vain as Shashi gave a befitting reply and booked a meeting with Vietnam’s Hong Do.

Ankushita rode on the rousing local support to beat Thai Thanchanok Saksri 5-0. The Assam lass chose to counter-attack in the first two rounds before switching to attack mode for a fine victory.

“I never fought against the Thai boxer before. So, I took some time to understand her moves before launching my attack,” said Ankushita, who will face Russian Ekaterina Dynnik in the gold medal match.

The results (semifinals): 51kg: Jyoti Gulia bt Zhansaya Abdraimova (Kaz) 4-1, Ekaterina Molchanova (Rus) bt Rinka Kinoshita (Jpn) 5-0. 57kg: Hong Do (Vie) bt Cailling Hu (Chn) 3-2, Shashi Chopra bt Namuun Monkhor (Mgl) 5-0. 64kg: Ankushita Boro bt Thanchanok Saksri (Tha) 5-0, Ekaterina Dynnik (Rus) bt Katelynn Phelan (Irl) 5-0. 75kg: Anastasiia Shamanova (Rus) bt Natalia Marczykowska (Pol) 5-0, Georgia O’Connor (Eng) bt Ya-Chu Yang (Tpe) 5-0. +81kg: Kristina Tkacheva (Rus) bt Sueda Sahin (Tur) 5-0, Dina Islambekova (Kaz) bt Neha Yadav 5-0.