Boxing-Taafaki secures Tuvalu's first Commonwealth Games medal without winning a bout


Aug 1 (Reuters) - ⁠Boxer Tarona Taafaki made history for ⁠Tuvalu when she won the ‌Pacific island nation's first ever Commonwealth Games medal in Glasgow, without winning a single ​bout.

Taafaki, one of five entrants ⁠in the women's ⁠75kg category, received a bye to ⁠the ‌semi-finals where she lost to India's Lovlina Borgohain on ⁠Friday.

The Commonwealth Games does not hold ​bronze medal ‌bouts and all boxers eliminated ⁠in the ​semis receive bronze medals.

"I'm very proud and very glad to be able ⁠to represent my country ​on this big stage," said 20-year-old Taafaki, one of only eight athletes and ⁠para athletes from the country at the Commonwealth Games.

Tuvalu has a population of just over 10,000 people.

"Probably 95% ​of the audience ⁠don’t know where my country is, ​so I feel very ‌privileged to represent Tuvalu," ​Taafaki added.

(Reporting by Chiranjit Ojha in BengaluruEditing by Shri Navaratnam)

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