Dominant Sakshi opens India's gold medal account at World Boxing Cup in Astana

Two-time youth world champion Sakshi bagged India's first gold medal at the World Boxing Cup - Astana, Kazakhstan 2025 with a dominant performance in the women's 54kg final here on Sunday. The 24-year-old was at her attacking best against USA's Yosline Perez to get a unanimous verdict from the judges, as per a press release from the Boxing Federation of India (BFI).

The Indian contingent has had a fruitful outing at the World Boxing Cup here and is assured of a total of 11 medals. India had bagged six medals in the first leg in Brazil, including a gold and a silver. There were four Indian boxers in action in the first session on Sunday, and it was Sakshi who managed to stand atop the podium with a stellar display that combined speed and combination punches.

Earlier, Meenakshi pushed hard for victory against local favourite Nazym Kyzaibay in the 48kg final but ended on the wrong side of a 3:2 verdict. Jugnoo (men's 85kg) and Pooja Rani (women's 80kg) will also return home with silver medals after losing their respective finals.

Jugnoo lost 0:5 against Bekzad Nurdauletov of Kazakhstan, while Pooja went down by an identical score line against Australia's Eseta Flint.

Four more Indians will be vying for gold medals in the evening session with Brazil leg gold medallist Hitesh Gulia (men's 70kg) leading the charge along with Abhinash Jamwal (men's 65kg), Jaismine (women's 57kg) and Nupur (women's 85+ kg). (ANI)