It was indeed a historic moment for India at the AIBA Youth Men’s and Women’s World Championships in Kielce in Poland, as many as seven Indian women were in the finals and coming out with an astonishing display of aggressive boxing, all of them won their bouts with Nagpur’s Alfiya Tarannum Akram Khan Pathan being the crowning glory winning the seventh and last bout of the day. Thursday turned out to be the best day for Indian women boxers in Youth World Championship as their seven golds bettered their Guwahati (at the 2017 edition) mark of two counts. Alfiya, a determined boxer with killer instinct, was at her tactical best in the summit clash against Moldova’s Daria Kozorez mixing attack and defence beautifully. With total control right throughout the match, Alfiya won with a unanimous decision (5-0). Alfiya’s response was good and she followed the instructions of her corner and stayed from the firing line. This exhausted her opponent early and in the final seconds of the round, Alfiya connected a couple of blows to get 10-9 from all the five judges.
The same strategy was adopted in the second round too. Alfiya had more variety to offer and was equally good at the back foot maintaining good balance of her body. She again did a good job to pocket the round (5-0). It was do or die for Daria who gave everything she had in her kitty but Alfiya played it smart. The judges ruled a unanimous decision in Afliya’s favour as sensational performances from India women ended with seven golds from as many bouts. Starting the tournament with just eight participants in the heaviest weight category, Alfiya was on a roll in her quarter-finals, making short work of Hungary’s Reka Hoffmann 5-0. She was much superior her rival in all the three rounds. It was not easy for Alfiya in the semis though against Poland’s Toborek Oliwia. After going down in the first round, Alfiya rallied brilliantly for a come from behind win over the local favourite. In fact, she was 0-5 down at the end of first round with all the judges giving her opponent 10- 9 verdict. But she bounced back to reduce the deficit and took the second round with 3-2 decision in her favour. She ticked all the boxes in the deciding round for a 3-2 split decision to make it to the final. Boxers from more than 50 countries are participating in the 10-day long tournament. The Boxing Federation of India (BFI) is fielding a 20-member squad including ten in girls’ category in the season’s first global competition that concludes on Friday with men’s finals. Only one Indian male boxer will be seen in action in final.
