Nine-medal haul for Indian women pugilists; Soniya clinches gold

Istanbul Sep 17 (IANS) Indias young women pugilists returned with a rich haul of nine medals including a gold medal in the Ahmed Comert International Boxing Championship that ended here on Sunday.

Soniya of Bhiwandi emerged the star of the contingent clinching the gold medal after beating Zhazira Urakabeva from Kazakhstan 4-1 in the 48kg category.

The Indian eves put up a good show in other weight categories too with Parveen Ankushita Boro Shashi Chopra and Niharika Gonella bagging the silver medal.

Parveen put up a grand fight but lost to Anastasiia Artamonova of Russia 2-3 in the 54 kg category; Shashi Chopra (57 kg) too missed it by a whisker after losing by a similar 2-3 margin to Vladislava Kukhta of Kazakhstan.

Ankushita Boro (60kg) and Niharika Gonella (75 kg) however found Cagla Aluc of Turkey and Shamonova Anastasiia of Russia too much to handle and lost 0-5 to settle for the silver medals.

Jyoti (48kg) Tilotama Chanu (60kg) Manisha and Lalita in the 64kg category finished their campaign with bronze medal. Jyoti was adjudged the best sporting boxer as India finished third in the overall medal tally.

--IANS
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