The India’s boxing challenge at the growing Youth Olympics competed at the very first hurdle after former world champion Jyoti Gulia (51kg) lost her quarterfinal bout to Italy’s Martina La Piana.
Gulia was the lone Indian boxer to certify for the Games owing to her world title and lost in a unanimous 0-5 verdict to the Italian on Monday night.
The 17-year-old Indian from Haryana was expected to do well at the event given that she was coming off a gold medal winning performance at the Silesian Open in Gliwice, Poland last month.
India’s maiden and only set of medals in the Youth Olympics’ boxing competition came in the inaugural edition of 2010.
Shiva Thapa and Vikas Krishan delivered a silver and a bronze medal respectively, which remain India’s best performance. While Shiva won his silver in the 54kg category, Vikas finished with a bronze in the 60kg division.
In 2014, the best that India managed in boxing was Gaurav Solanki’s fourth-place finish. Solanki (52kg) won the gold medal in this year’s Commonwealth Games.
