Dominant Sakshi wins gold at World Boxing Cup in Astana

Two-time youth world champion Sakshi bagged India’s first gold medal at the second World Boxing Cup with a dominant performance in women’s 54kg final here on Sunday.

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The 24-year-old was at her attacking best as she registered a unanimous verdict win against USA’s Yosline Perez.

The Indian contingent has had a fruitful outing at the World Boxing Cup here and is assured of a total of 11 medals.

India had bagged six medals in the first leg in Brazil, including a gold and a silver.

There were four Indian boxers in action in the first session and it was Sakshi who managed to stand atop of the podium with a stellar display that combined speed and combination punches.

Earlier, Meenakshi pushed hard for victory against local favourite Nazym Kyzaibay in the 48kg final but ended on the wrong side of a 3-2 verdict.

Jugnoo (men’s 85kg) and Pooja Rani (women’s 80kg) will also return home with silver medals after losing their respective finals.

Jugnoo went down 0-5 against Bekzad Nurdauletov of Kazakhstan while Pooja too lost by an identical margin to Australia’s Eseta Flint.

Four more Indians will be vying for gold medals in the evening session with Brazil leg gold medallist Hitesh Gulia (men’s 70kg) leading the charge along with Abhinash Jamwal (men’s 65kg),  Jaismine (women’s 57kg) and Nupur (women’s 85+ kg).