Boxers slip at final hurdle as Anamika, Anupama, Govind win silver

Sofia, February 26

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Indian boxers Anamika (50kg), Anupama (81kg) and Govind Kumar Sahani (48kg) signed off with silver medals at the Strandja Memorial Tournament here today.

Anamika, the reigning national champion, lost by a 1-4 split verdict against China’s Hu Meiyi in the lightweight final.

Sahani too lost by a similar margin against Shodiyorjon Melikuziev of Uzbekistan. Anupama, on the other hand, was beaten by a technically superior Emma Sue Greentree of Australia by a 5-0 unanimous verdict.

The Indian boxers return home with a haul of eight medals — three silver and five bronze.

Anamika began aggressively but Meiyi defended well, moving around the ring to take the first round by a unanimous verdict. The two boxers resorted to a lot of body-clinching in the second round as Anamika started to find her footing.

In the final three minutes, Anamika was the better boxer as she landed a flurry of combination punches, with four of the five judges ruling in her favour, but it was a little too late.

In the light heavyweight final, Greentree did not let Anupama settle down, dominating from the beginning. The Indian looked tentative and played with an open guard and Greentree took advantage of that as she punched from a distance, using her long reach to good effect. The gulf between the two boxers was evident.

Former Indian boxing high-performance director Santiago Nieva, who is the current Australian national boxing team head coach, was seen celebrating Greentree’s win on the sidelines.

The bout between Sahani and Melikuziev was messy, with both boxers resorting to body blows and clinching. The Indian used his speed and fast punches but played with his guard down, giving easy access to the Uzbek.

While attacking, Sahani threw a lot of punches but wasn’t able to land as many as he would have liked to, which tilted the result in his opponent’s favour.