All eyes on Shashi, Ankushita in Women’s Youth World Boxing


Four doughty Indian boxers will step into the ring on Friday afternoon, hoping to turn the country’s hopes and dreams into reality as the curtain goes up on the semi finals of the AIBA Women’s Youth World Boxing Championships here in Guwahati.

 

Ten bouts in the fly, feather, welter, middle and heavy categories are on the card on Day 1 of this epochal stage, with only Russia matching the impressive number that India have managed to send into the Last Four stage.

 

Kazakhstan will see two of their own boxers fighting for places in the final while China, Mongolia, Thailand, Taipei, Ireland, Japan, Poland, Turkey, England and Vietnam will have one each.

 

Fortunately, for both, India and Russia, neither of their boxers will run into each other on Friday.

 

Jyoti will kick off India’s challenge in the fly-weight category, taking on Kazakhstan’s Abdraimova Zhansaya, the conqueror of  USA’s Heaven Garcia who was earlier tipped to walk away with the title.

 

Jyoti will have to fight a lot smarter to dismantle Abdraimova, who is strong, quick, clever and aggressive. A solid guard, keeping her jabbing arm busy and away from her body while mixing it with attacks in short bursts, should do the trick.

 

Next in line will be Shashi Chopra, who comes up against Mongolian Monghor Namuun, another tough customer who is not just aggressive, but quick and packs a good punch too.

 

Knowing Shashi, she will be up to the task though. She has all the trappings of a quality boxer. All she will need to do is stay sharp, maintain a solid guard and look for clean hitting, combining it with hooks and uppercuts when fighting from close quarters.

 

Next on the cards will be one of India’s most talented and skilful boxer, Ankushita Boro, the darling of the local crowd, being an Assamese herself. She takes on the might of Thailand’s Saksri Thanchanok in the light-welter category.The Thai got the better of the hard-hitting Polish girl Borys Patrycja in a clincher that was decided on a split-decision.

 

Ankushita should come through, though, as she is on a roll and in good form too. She is also clinically and technically very sound. All she needs to do is stick to the coach’s plan and ensure a guard as the Thai packs a solid punch.

 

India’s fourth boxer on view, Neha Yadav will have her hands full against Islambekova Dina. The hard-hitting Kazakhstan girl is strong and skillful, light on her feet and comes up with a good burst of punches. Neha will have to box smart, fast and furious when in close quarters and maintain a compact guard.

 

When asked about the medal prospects of the Indian team, Rafael Bergamasco, BFI’s High Performance Director, said, “I never put a count on medals because I believe in good performances. Medals will come if you box well. I had aimed for seven medals and I’m very happy that we have achieved that. I believe we could have won a couple more though.

 

“We have gone through the videos of all our opponents and have our strategy in place. I will give the coaches individual methodology for the boxers and ask them to work on it. No hard training today,” he added.

 

Other bouts that will have the crowd on their feet will be the middle-weight clashes between England’s Georgia O’Connor and China’s Yang Ya-Chu and Russia’s Anastasiia Shamonova and Polish girl Natalia Marczykowsca. Both bouts promise exciting fare.

 

Another bout to watch out for is the China-Vietnam clash in the feather-weight category where the talented and stylish Hu of China takes on Do Hong Ngoc.