Nitu Ghanghas won India’s first medal in boxing at the Commonwealth Games 2022 when she defeated Demie-Jade of England in the women’s 48kg final to win gold. Nitu, who had confirmed a bronze medal, assured a silver yesterday before improving it further to finish at the top of the podium. Nitu’s win brought India its second medal of the penultimate day of the Games and 41st overall.
Nitu had earlier prevailed over Canada’s Priyanka Dhillon as she notched a RSC (Referee Stops Contest) win in the minimum weight category. Nitu started off in attack mode and landed blows on her opponents’ head. She won the first round by unanimous decision 5-0 with perfect scores of ten each from the five judges. In the second round too, Nitu scored perfect ten from all judges.
Such was the 21-year-old Nitu’s confidence that she played with an open guard, inviting her opponent to strike while using her straight jabs and combination punches to great effect. In the end, the referee had to end the contest.
“I am so happy, I can hardly breathe,” Nitu told reporters.
Daughter of an employee in Haryana Vidhan Sabha said, Nitu, who hails from India’s ‘mini Cuba’ in boxing Bhiwani, further said: “My parents have been my inspiration and my gold medal is for them.”