NEW DELHI: Continuing his splendid run in the tournament, Manish Kaushik clinched the gold medal as Indian boxers concluded their impressive campaign at the Boxam International Tournament with 10 medals in Castellon, Spain.
The 2018 Commonwealth Games silver medallist Kaushik, who returned into the ring for the first time after the Asian Olympic Qualifiers held in March last year, beat Denmark’s Nikolai Terteryan with a split 3-2 decision in the men’s 63kg summit bout. However, the World Championship bronze medallist Vikas Krishan went down fighting 4-1 against local favourite Ndiaye Sissokho to settle for a silver medal in the men’s 69kg.
Meanwhile, in the women’s category, Asian champion Pooja Rani lost to Word Championships bronze medallist USA’s Naomi Graham 5-0 in the 75kg final while young Jasmine, who was playing her maiden senior international tournament, showed a great attacking display but couldn’t hold an edge over 2019 European Champion Irma Testa of Italy and settle for a silver in the 57kg after going down 0-5 in the final.
The other five silver medals for the country were secured by Simranjit Kaur (60kg), Mohammed Hussamuddin (57), Ashish Kumar (75kg), Sumi Sangwan (81kg), and Satish Kumar (+91kg).
Ashish had to withdraw from the final after he was tested positive for COVID-19 while the rest four boxers also withdrew from the tournament as a precautionary measure.
Earlier, Mary Kom settled for bronze after her semi-final exit. A 14-member (8 men and 6 women) Indian contingent had participated in the 35th edition of the Boxam International Tournament. The team will be reaching back to India on Monday.