India finish on top at 46th Tammer Tournament with four gold, two silver and eight bronze medals

Hyderabad: Indian contingent bagged four gold, two silver and eight bronze to finish on top of the medals tally at the prestigious 46th International Tanner Boxing tournament in Tampere, Finland, on Sunday.

Aarti Dhariyal (women’s 54kg), Ankushita Boro (women’s 65kg), Arundhati Chaudhary (women’s 70kg) and Pawan Bartwal (men’s 55kg) clinched the gold medals while Hussam Mohammed (men’s 60kg) and Jaismine (women’s 57kg) finished with silver medals.

Organised by the Tampere Boxing Association, the tournament has been held annually since 1977 and is an established event on the international boxing calendar.

India had fielded a 14-member squad with a focus on providing international exposure to boxers ranked third in the country’s Olympic weight-category bench strength, along with top-ranked pugilists in Olympic weight categories that are not part of the Asian Games programme.

In the women’s 54kg Aarti convincing beat Kernachan Stephen of Scotland 5:0 while Commonwealth Games gold medallist Arundhati got the better of Igharo Evelyn Ivi of Ireland 3:2 in the women’s 70kg final.

Later in the day, Ankushita Boro (women’s 65kg) defeated England’s Thompstone Ella 4:1 and Pawan Bartwal (men’s 55 kg) defeated Ireland’s Louis Rooney 5:0.

“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.

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) bagged the bronze medals.