Gaurav Saini in final, 3 others in semis of Asian junior boxing

Saini defeated Kyrgyzstan's Zakirov Mukhammadaziz 4-1 to enter the summit clash on Sunday night. The tournament is being held simultaneously for the youth and junior boxers (both men and women) for the first time.

Gaurav Saini (70kg) advanced to the final while three other Indian boxers entered the last-four stage after contrasting victories in the Asian Junior Championships in Dubai.

Boxing gloves (Twitter)

Saini defeated Kyrgyzstan's Zakirov Mukhammadaziz 4-1 to enter the summit clash on Sunday night. The tournament is being held simultaneously for the youth and junior boxers (both men and women) for the first time.

Entering the semifinals were Ashis (54kg), Anshul (57kg) and Bharat Joon ( 81kg).

Ashis outpunched Tajikistan's Rahmanov Jafar 5-0, while Anshul pummelled UAE's Mansoor Khaled in his quarterfinal bout which was stopped in the first round itself due to the Indian's dominance.

Joon eked out a 3-2 triumph over Uzbekistan's Kenesbaev Aynazar.

However, it was curtains for Krish Pal (46kg) and Preet Malik (63kg).

Pal was no match for Uzbekistan's Bakhtiyor Yakhshiboev, who outclassed him by the second round forcing the referee to stop the contest.

Malik went down 2-3 to Kyrgyzstan's Eldar Esembaev.

More than 20 medals were assured for India on the day of draws itself as Covid-19 travel restrictions kept several counties away leading to small size of the draws.

The junior champions will be awarded with USD 4,000 for gold and USD 2,000 and 1,000 for silver and bronze medallists respectively.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.