Asian Games gold medallist Amit Panghal (49kg) on Tuesday claimed a second successive gold at the Strandja Memorial Tournament. The Haryana pugilist pulled off a dominating 5-0 triumph over Kazakhstan’s Temirtas Zhussupov, who was left with a bleeding forehead at the end of the bout.
Former junior world champion Nikhat Zareen and Meena Kumari Devi, meanwhile, became the first set of Indian women boxers to clinch gold medals in Sofia.
Zareen, a multiple-time national medallist, claimed a 5-0 win in the 51kg category finals against Filipino Irish Magno. Devi got the better of Aira Villegas 3-2, also from Philippines, in the bantamweight (54kg) summit clash.
However, Manju Rani (48kg) settled for a silver after going down to another Filipino in Josie Gabuco in a split 2-3 verdict.
In a commanding performance, Zareen out-maneuvered Magno with a rock solid defence. Although the bout seemed closer than the final score-line, Zareen pulled it off by denying her rival a clear shot.
Devi, who won a bronze medal in the previous edition of the tournament, bettered her podium performance with a gritty show against Villegas.
The Indian battled hard against her aggressive opponent and did well on the counter-attack to end up on the top of the podium.
On Monday, Pwilao Basumatari (64kg), Neeraj (60kg) and Lovlina Borgohain (69kg) had settled for bronze medals after losing their semi-final bouts. India had won 11 medals at the 2018 edition, two of them gold, which was also their best-ever performance at the event.
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