Ambekar Meetei and Gunjan deliver a golden double for India in Dakar boxing

Indian boxing delivered a golden double at the Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, with both of the country's boxers winning their finals on Thursday. Lairenlakpam Ambekar Meetei became the first Indian boxer to win a Youth Olympics gold, beating Ireland's Jubani Kristian 3-2 in the boys' 50kg final. Gunjan followed with an even more emphatic win, defeating Algeria's Bensalah Bouthaina 5-0 in the girls' 48kg final to become the first Indian woman to win boxing gold at the Games.

The two titles gave India a perfect record in the Dakar boxing competition, with both of its entrants finishing on top of the podium. India and Uzbekistan were the only countries to win two boxing titles at the Games, where ten gold medals were decided across five men's and five women's weight classes. Ambekar, from Manipur, reached the final with a 5-0 semi-final win over Colombia's Izzon Jeffrey Galea Arevalo, after stopping Namibia's Abraham Kalenga in the quarter-finals. Gunjan, from Haryana, beat Mexico's Atena Sofia Juarez Calero 5-0 in the quarter-finals and Great Britain's Lily Bassett 4-1 in the semi-finals.

Ambekar trains at the National Institute of Sports in Patiala. The golds went one better than Shiva Thapa's silver at Singapore 2010, which had been India's best Youth Olympic boxing result until Dakar. India had previously won two Youth Olympic boxing medals but never a gold. The two golds lifted India from 58th to 16th in the Dakar medal standings, and they were also India's first two gold medals of the Games.