New Delhi: Asian U-19 silver medallist Prachi Tokas assured the first medal for the Indian contingent when she outplayed Samoa’s Kealey Perez to reach the women’s 80+ kg category semifinals of the 2026 World Boxing U-19 Championships in Budva, Montenegro.
In the quarterfinals that ended late on Tuesday evening, Tokas dominated all three rounds against Perez, who had won the gold medal in the 80 kg category at the U19 World Boxing Futures Cup in Bangkok, Thailand, earlier this year.
In the semifinals, the Indian boxer will face Russia’s Samira Itonieva.
Meanwhile, Harshika and Lakshu are now a win away from an assured medal after they registered contrasting wins in their pre-quarterfinals bout.
Harshika defeated Tiana Rew of Australia 4:0 in the women’s 65kg category while Lakshu got the better of Buse Nur Yahan of Turkey 3:2 in the women’s 70kg category.
Later in the men’s 90 kg category, Dhruv went down 0:3 against Aleksander Sikora of Poland.
Earlier, Aman Dev came up with yet another clinical performance to beat Pavle Popovic of Serbia to reach the men’s quarter-finals in the 50 kg category in Budva, Montenegro.
Aman dominated all three rounds against Popovic to earn a 5:0 verdict and will now face Shalva Beridze of Georgia in the last eight.
Later in the day, Mausam Suhag booked his place in the round of 16 with a 5:0 win over Giuseppe Cavallo of Italy in the men’s 65kg category. He will now face Turkey’s Mehmet Enes Sanli for a spot in the quarterfinals.
Meanwhile, Shivam lost to Nikola Bogatinoski of Serbia in the men’s 60kg category by RSC late on Sunday evening.
On Monday, Aditya and Tridev registered contrastive victories in the second round of their respective weight categories to reach the pre-quarterfinals.
Aditya defeated USA’s Christian Paez by RSC in the second round after his opponent was given two countdowns each in both the rounds in the men’s 55kg category.
Tridev earned a 3:2 verdict against Kajetan Bajzert of Poland in the men’s 85kg bout. In the nail-biting clash, the Indian kept his nose ahead by winning all three rounds as three of the five judges gave the rounds to him.
(IANS)
