The penultimate day of boxing at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games is complete, with 20 semi-finals determining the gold medal bout lineup.
India, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan enjoyed the most success and will have two boxers each lining up in the finals later today. Every boxer that exited the competition yesterday secured Youth Olympic Games bronze medals for their nation.
India’s two victories came for Gunjan Gunjan in the women’s 48kg, thanks to a 4:1 split decision, while Ambekar Meetei Lairenlakpam earned a unanimous decision win in his men’s 50kg bout.
Kazakhstan started the day strong with its two wins coming in the opening session. Aknur Tursyngali (W57kg) defeated Ukraine’s Yevanhelina Petruk via a 4:1 scoreline, followed by Bibarys Ashirbay unanimously defeating Mexico’s Jorge Luis Nieblas Gutierrez in the men’s 60kg.
Uzbekistan’s two successes both came in the evening session, with unanimous decision victories for Sabrina Chakomanova (W54kg) and Rushanabonu Isoeva (W60kg), coming against Kazakhstan’s Maral Tolepbergen and Egypt’s Menatalla Ibrahim respectively.
In the women’s 48kg Algeria’s Bouthaina Bensalah edged a close semi-final against Italy’s Michela Guglielmon, earning a 3:2 win that sets up a gold medal bout against Gunjan.
One semi-final wasn’t contested as Georgia’s Emil Ismailov was granted a walkover victory against Canada’s Lisandro Garcia Rebelo in the men’s 55kg. The Georgian will face Australia’s Marley Dodd in the final after he got the better of Sweden’s Zaheer Changazi with a tight 3:2 victory.
Venezuela’s Grenyelis Garcia is one of the first women boxers to represent her nation in this competition and will now compete for a gold medal after defeating Algeria’s Cerine Kessal in the women’s 51kg. She will face Azerbaijan’s Gular Huseynova following her 5:0 win against Canada’s Mehreen Khakh.
Catch up on every single result so far in the competition on the Xempower website and watch every gold medal bout live through the World Boxing website as 10 Youth Olympic champions are crowned.