India top medals at 46th Tammer Boxing tournament in Tampere with 14 medals

The Indian contingent finished top of the medals table at the 46th International Tammer Boxing tournament in Tampere, Finland on Sunday, claiming 14 medals in total, including four golds.

Organised by the Tampere Boxing Association and held annually since 1977, the tournament featured a 14-member Indian squad assembled to provide international exposure; the group combined boxers ranked third in the country’s Olympic weight-category bench strength with top-ranked pugilists in Olympic weight categories that are not part of the Asian Games programme. Except for Arundhati Chaudhary and Jaismine, who were not part of the Asian Games programme, India sent fighters to test themselves against overseas opposition.

India’s gold medallists were Aarti Dhariyal (women’s 54kg), Ankushita Boro (women’s 65kg), Arundhati Chaudhary (women’s 70kg) and Pawan Bartwal (men’s 55kg). Hussam Mohammed (men’s 60kg) and Jaismine (women’s 57kg) took silver.

In the women’s 54kg final Aarti Dhariyal beat Kernachan Stephen of Scotland 5:0. In the women’s 70kg final Commonwealth Games gold medallist Arundhati Chaudhary defeated Igharo Evelyn Ivi of Ireland 3:2.

Ankushita Boro won the women’s 65kg final against England’s Thompstone Ella 4:1, while Pawan Bartwal beat Ireland’s Louis Rooney 5:0 in the men’s 55kg gold-medal contest.

The Indian bronze medallists were Vivek Meena (men’s 65kg), Hitesh (men’s 70kg), Akshay (men’s 80kg), Bobin Chauhan (men’s 90kg), Chetan Choudhary (men’s 90+kg), Tanu (women’s 51kg), Disha Patil (women’s 60kg) and Imroz Khan (women’s 75kg).

“I congratulate the entire team on a strong performance in Finland and for finishing on top of the medals tally. This tournament was an important opportunity for us to test our bench strength and to enable them to gain valuable international exposure and test themselves against quality opposition. “The results reflect the progress we are making in building depth across weight categories and give us confidence as we prepare for the LA Olympics qualifying events,” said Boxing Federation of India President, Ajay Singh.