Vishwanath, Vanshaj, Devika clinch gold medals at Youth World Boxing Championships

Indian boxers Vishwanath Suresh, Vanshaj and Devika Ghorpade lived up to their favourites tag, registering commanding victories to clinch gold medals at the IBA Youth Men's and Women's World Championships 2022 in La Nucia, Spain. Chennai-born Vishwanath handed India their first gold at the prestigious championships after thrashing Ronel Suyom of Philippines without breaking a sweat in the men's 48kg final.

This came after Bhawna Sharma bagged a silver medal in the women's 48kg category, losing 0-5 loss against Uzbekistan's Gulsevar Ganieva in the opening match of the day.

Ashish (54kg) was the other Indian to finish with a silver medal. He went down 1-4 against Japanese pugilist Yuta Sakai in a thrilling final.


Devika, who hails from Pune, added a second gold to India's tally, beating England's Lauren Mackie in the women's 52kg final.

Youth Asian champion Vanshaj wrapped up the day in style for India by winning ta third gold.

The confident Sonipat-based boxer made light work of Demur Kajaia of Georgia in the men's 63.5kg summit clash.

With 11 medals, India topped in the on-going edition of the event, followed by Uzbekistan (10), Ireland (7) and Kazakhstan (7).

This year's championships witnessed participation from close to 600 boxers from 73 countries.

India's eight medals in the women's section is also the highest for any country.

Having already won three gold medals, Ravina (63kg) and Kirti (+81kg) will look to add two moreyellow metals to India's kitty when they fight in the women's final on the last day of the competition.

Ravina and Kirti will be up against Megan deCler of Netherlands and Ireland's Elizabeth D'Arcy respectively.

Besides three gold and two silver on the penultimate day, India's tally also includes four bronze medals coming from Tamanna (50kg), Kunjarani Devi Thongam (60kg), Muskan (75kg) and Lashu Yadav (70kg), who lost in the semifinals.