Assam’s golden girl of boxing ring Ankushita Boro on Sunday evening scripted history by bagging a gold medal in 64 kg category in the final day of the AIBA World Women’s Youth Boxing Championships.
Ankushita demolished Russia’s Ekaterina Dynnik in a 5-0 victory in the light welterweight final.
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Ankushita was adjudged the boxer of the tournament.
While the BTC administration has announced a cash prize of Rs five lakh for the gold-medalist, former Assam Chief Minister Prafulla Kr Mahanta has said that he would pay his one month’s salary to Ankushita.
The budding woman boxer has made the entire state proud after she bagged gold in the final.
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Lauding the young boxer’s achievement, sports lovers of the State have flooded social media with congratulatory messages.
Ankushita’s parents Rakesh Kumar and Ranjita Boro travelled from their village Megaai Gairrrani in Udalguri district to watch their daughter fight.
“Nobody knows about boxing in and around my village. I started on the insistence of my cousin who took me to SAI, Golaghat for trials in 2012. I stayed at the hostel as I could not travel alone. If my mother would have travelled to Golaghat to take me home, that would have meant an extra Rs 100 bus ticket.
“ My father works on probation at Borbil ME School and does not get a regular salary. Whatever they earn is through farming and when they come to see me fight on Friday, I want to enter the final and win the gold medal like Sakshi did at the World Junior Championship in 2015,” The India Express quoted Ankushita as saying.
After giving trials at the SAI, Golaghat, she stayed at the hostel for three years under coach Borjen Bora before her selection in the Assam Boxing Academy under coach Tradeep Bora in Guwahati.
A best boxer award at the district level in 2013 was followed by a state gold in 2015 and the youngster also won a bronze medal in the first youth nationals held in Delhi early this year.
Training under coach Tradeep Bora for the last two years, Ankushita made it to the national youth camp in April this year and has won a silver at the Balkan International Boxing Championship in Sofia and Ahmet Comert Championships in Turkey in the last two months. A shift to 64kg from her usual 60kg category earlier this year has been followed by training in Bhopal and Delhi under national chief youth coach Bhaskar Chandra Bhatt, who rates her highly.