By Shaurya Dutt

New Delhi [India], July 8 (ANI): Pugilist Hitesh Gulia, who fell short of winning a gold medal at the World Boxing Cup Astana in 2025, has said that he will go back and work on his mistakes to prepare himself for the upcoming World Championships in September.

The 20-year-old boxer returned home with a silver medal after losing his final bout in the men's 70kg event. Gulia lost his final game of the competition 0-5 against Brazil's Kaian Oliveira.

'There is a feeling of not winning gold, but I'll work on my mistakes, and everyone will be able to see those improvements in the World Championship. Everyone over there was tough, but the toughest fight was in the finals. It was the neck-to-neck competition,' Gulia told ANI in an interview.

Meanhhile, Olympian Pooja Rani (women's 80kg) also finished her World Boxing Cup Astana 2025 campaign with a silver medal.

Rani said, 'At the World Cup, which was hosted in Kazakhstan, I won the silver medal. My opening match was with the hosting nation only; there was some pressure also. I won that bout by 4-1. After that, my semi-final bout was with the Turkey, who was a four-time World Cup medalist, but I won that bout by 3-2.'

The Indian contingent finished with 11 medals, including three gold, five silver and three bronze medals. India had bagged six medals in the first leg in Brazil, including a gold and a silver.

Head Coach of the Indian Boxing Team, Dharmendra Singh Yadav said, 'Not only me but the whole nation is feeling proud. This time, the performance was good. Two bouts that we lost were very close to 3-2, and due to that, we faced the loss... Everyone won good bouts, and those who were not able to win also learned something from their loss.' (ANI)