India’s young boxers continued their impressive run at the 3rd Asian Youth Games 2025 in Bahrain, with six pugilists — five girls and one boy — storming into the finals. The country also secured a bronze medal through Anant Deshmukh, who showed great grit in the men’s 66kg semifinal before bowing out. In the girls’ category, India’s dominance was clear from the start. Khushi Chand (46kg) led the way with a flawless 5-0 win over her Mongolian opponent, setting the tone for the rest of the team. Chandrika Bhoreshi Pujari (54kg) followed up with another commanding 5-0 victory against Kazakhstan. Harnoor Kaur (66kg) displayed sharp counter-punching skills to beat Chinese Taipei with a similar 5-0 margin, while Anshika (+80kg) maintained India’s clean sweep by overpowering her Chinese rival. Later in the day, Ahaana (50kg) was tested by Uzbekistan in a close bout but showed tremendous courage to pull off a 3-2 split-decision win, completing India’s unbeaten run in the girls’ semifinals, the Boxing Federation of India said in a statement. Among the boys, Lanchenba Singh Moibungkhongbam (50kg) continued his fine form, registering a dominant 5-0 win over his opponent from the People’s Republic of Korea to reach the final. However, Anant Deshmukh’s campaign ended in the semifinals after a valiant effort against a strong Kazakh boxer, earning him a well-deserved bronze. With six boxers reaching the gold medal bouts, India has already marked one of its most successful youth boxing outings at the continental level. The young contingent, trained under head coaches Vinod Kumar (boys) and Jitender Raj Singh (girls) at the National Institute of Sports in Patiala, will now look to turn their stellar performances into gold as the tournament wraps up on October 30.
