Nagpur: India boxer Alfiya Pathan of Nagpur bagged a silver medal in the Asian U-22 Boxing Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan, on Tuesday.
In the gold medal clash, a former youth world champion Alfiya lost her light heavyweight (81kg) to Diana Magauyayeva of Kazakhstan. Former world junior champion Alfiya started the match as favourite. She had defeated Diana in the U-17 Asian Championship in Dubai in 2019.
Despite the local crowd firmly rooting for her opponent, Alfiya gave a good account of herself in the final bout though she couldn’t clinch the gold. For most part of the bout, Diana adopted the strategy of holding Alfiya and didn’t allow the Nagpur boxer enough room to unleash punches.
Paris Olympics-bound Preeti Malik was among seven Indian boxers to have clinched the gold medal as the country’s medals tally hit a high of 43 on the final day.
In all, Indian boxers won 12 gold, 14 silver and 17 bronze medals to finish second behind hosts Kazakhstan who bagged a total of 48 medals. One of the country’s top-rated boxers in the heavyweight category — Alfiya had created history by becoming the first ever woman to win a gold medal for Nagpur University in Khelo India University Games.