File image of Lairenlakpam Ambekar Meetei (right)© X (Formerly Twitter)
Indian boxer Lairenlakpam Ambekar Meetei assured the country of a medal at the Youth Olympic Games after advancing to the semifinals of the men’s 50kg category with a dominant victory over Namibia’s Abraham Kalenga on Tuesday. Meetei secured the win via Referee Stopped Contest (RSC) in the opening round of the quarterfinal, with the bout ending after 1 minute and 57 seconds. The Indian pugilist will next face Colombia’s Izzon Jeffrey Arevalo in the semifinal on Wednesday. With the victory, Meetei has guaranteed India at least a bronze medal, further adding to the country’s growing tally at the Games. India have already won three silver and five bronze medals at the Youth Olympics.
Meanwhile, fifteen-year-old Indian badminton sensation Tanvi Patri has tempered down her own expectations following a series of injuries, with qualifying for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics now remaining one of her major goals over the next two years.
Fresh off a path-breaking silver medal at the Youth Olympics in Dakar, Tanvi also wants to win the Asian Junior Championships and World Junior Championships besides breaking into the top-30 of the world rankings.
Tanvi has had to deal with knee, hamstring and most recently back injury in her budding career.
“Like earlier I used to say that my aim is to get a medal for my country in LA. But now, like this year also I had back injury.And last year also I had hamstring injury. So, I think my aim is to like to qualify for LA and play my best there for now.
“I know it’s hard to qualify but still I’ll try my best to qualify for LA 2028.And for next year, I think my goal is to win the Asian Under-19 Junior Championships and the World Junior Championships,” she said in a virtual media interaction.
The girl from Odisha could not do well in the world juniors last month as she was not in the best of health.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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