India's Lairenlakpam Ambekar Meetei became the country's first-ever boxing gold medallist at the Youth Olympic Games on Thursday, November 12, defeating Ireland's Kristian Jubani 3-2 in the men's 50kg final at the Dakar Expo Centre at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games, MyKhel reported.

Source: MyKhel

3-2Split-decision win over Kristian Jubani in the 50kg final
50kgMen's weight category
16 yearsWait since Shiva Thapa's Singapore 2010 silver
1stIndian boxing gold at the Youth Olympics

The final did not start Meetei's way: all five judges scored the opening round for Jubani. The Manipuri boxer fought back to take the second round on three judges' cards and the decisive third round on four, completing the comeback to seal the historic gold, MyKhel reported.

A perfect run to the title

Meetei's road to the final was commanding — a referee-stops-contest win over Namibia's Abraham Kalenga at 1:57 of the opening round, a 5-0 quarter-final win over Senegal's Faye Cheikh Ibrahima Fall, and a unanimous 5-0 semi-final win over Colombia's Izzon Jeffrey Galea Arevalo that made him the first Indian boxer to reach a Youth Olympics final at Dakar, MyKhel reported. He trains at the National Institute of Sports in Patiala, PTI reported after the semi-final.

Source: MyKhel

The gold is also India's first of the Dakar 2026 Games, after the contingent had collected three silver and five bronze medals earlier in the edition, IANS reported. India's only previous Youth Olympics boxing medals were Shiva Thapa's silver in the men's 54kg at the inaugural Singapore 2010 Games and Vikas Krishan's bronze in the 60kg at the same edition — Meetei's gold ends a 16-year wait and puts Indian boxing on top of the Youth Olympic podium for the first time, IANS reported.

Source: IANS, via Yardbarker