Boxing: Gaurav Solanki wins Gold for India in Commonwealth Games

Gaurav Solanki has become the second Indian male boxer after Suranjoy Singh (2010) to win gold in the flyweight category (52kg) at the Commonwealth Games. Solanki achieved the feat after defeating Northern Ireland’s Brendan Irvine in the final at Gold Coast on Saturday. The gold was India’s 2nd in boxing and 20th overall at CWG 2018. Gaurav Solanki followed Mary Kom’s footsteps and won the gold medal in the men’s 53kg category.

Solanki dominated most of the battle against Northern Ireland’s Brendan Irvine and won by a split 4:1 verdict. The battle was fast paced and it took some tactical brilliance from Solanki to win the bout.

In the second round, Solanki put up a relentless show and landed many heavy blows on his opponent to tilt the verdict in his favor.

With Solanki’s Gold and the two other Silver from the male boxers, India’s medals tally has beefed up 47 medals (20 Gold, 13 Silver and 14 Bronze).

On the other hand, Amit Panghal and Manish Kaushik settled for Silver after losing their respective gold medal bouts in Gold Coast.

While Amit claimed the silver medal in the men’s 49kg category losing to England’s Galai Yafai, Manish got the silver metal in the men’s 60kg category against Australia’s Harry Garside.