After her gold-medal winning run at Strandja Cup, Meena Kumari Maisnam (54kg) continued her impeccable form to finish on the top of the podium at the Cologne Boxing World Cup 2019 in Cologne, Germany on Saturday.
Sakshi (57kg) and Pwilao Basumatary (64kg) lost their final bouts and finished with silver medals.
India thus completed a haul of five medals from this prestigious European tournament following Pinki Rani (51kg) and Parveen (60kg)’s bronze medal wins on Saturday.
Meena Kumari, who has the 2014 Asian Championships bronze medal and three National Championships titles to her credit, edged Thailand’s Machai Bunyanut on points in the summit clash. This was the only bout of the tournament for the Manipur pugilist as she had been directly placed in the final due to a smaller draw.
Reigning youth world champion Sakshi’s brilliant run came to an end against two-time Commonwealth Games silver medallist Michaela Walsh. The Irish stamped her authority in a commanding 5-0 performance, leaving no chance for the 18-year-old Indian youngster to make a comeback in her first elite international final.
India Open gold medallist Pwilao Basumatary gave her best but came up short against China’s Chengyu Yang, who was declared the winner on points.
India had sent a seven-member team to this tournament this time following a healthy haul of six medals from the erstwhile Chemistry Cup held at Halle last year. Gaurav Solanki (52kg) and Mohammed Hussamuddin (56kg) were the only Indians to stand on the top podium in the last edition.
(With BFI inputs)
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