Finance
After the nations illustrious pugilists Nikhat Zareen and Lovlina Borgohain recorded stellar victories by contrasting margins in the finals at the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex on Sunday, India capped an outstanding campaign by finishing with the most gold medals (four) at the IBA Womens World Boxing Championship.
Nikhat (50kg), the reigning World champion, defeated Nguyen Thi Tam of Vietnam to win gold for the second year in a row, while Lovlina (75kg), the bronze medalist at the Tokyo Olympics, won her first Worlds gold with a 5-2 win on points after the bout was reviewed against Caitlin Parker of Australia.
Alongside Nikhat and Lovlina, 2022 Commonwealth Games medallist Nitu Ghanghas (48kg) and three-time Asian medallist Saweety Boora (81kg) were the other gold medallists for the hosts. All pugilists were rewarded with INR 82.7 lakh ($100,000) each in prize money for becoming World Champions.
Applauding the gold medallists, Ajay Singh, the President of Boxing Federation of India said, “We are extremely proud of all pugilists that have scripted history with their gold medals. Securing four gold medals at home in front of such a passionate crowd is a fabulous achievement. The performances of these pugilists will undoubtedly inspire young girls from the country to win medals and elevate Indian boxing to greater heights. Everyone at BFI would like to congratulate Nikhat, Nitu, Lovlina and Saweety on their remarkable accomplishments and we are looking forward to seeing more of the same from them in the upcoming Asian Games.”
The tenacious Nikhat (50kg) lived up to her name in her rampant display against the two-time Asian champion Nguyen, asserting her dominance in the bout from the start by landing accurate punches and using her quick feet to dodge the Vietnamese’s attacks.
The 2022 Commonwealth Games gold medalist kept her cool throughout the fight and demonstrated why she’s one of the best in the business with a spectacular attacking display that helped her win by unanimous decision.
Nikhat became only the second Indian female pugilist to win two gold medals at the World Championships, joining boxing legend Mary Kom, who has a record six gold medals in the competition.
“I am extremely delighted to become World Champion for the second time, especially in a different category. Today’s bout was my toughest in the entire tournament and since this was the last match of the tournament I wanted to utilize my energy completely and leave everything in the ring. It was a rollercoaster of a bout with both of us getting warnings as well as eight counts and it was very close. My strategy in the last round was to go all out and attack and I felt very happy when my hand was lifted as the winner. This medal is for India and for everyone who has supported us throughout the tournament,” said Nikhat after her bout.
Lovlina faced a tough challenge in her first World Championships final against two-time Commonwealth Games medalist Parker, but produced a world-class performance to win the closely contested matchup.
The fight was back and forth, with the Indian edging her opponent 3-2 in the first round before the Australian came back to win 4-1 in the second. Finally, the 25-year-old Assamese-born pugilist outpunched her opponent to win her third Worlds medal.
“I feel happy on becoming the World Champion and winning the gold for my country. As the opponent was strong we changed the strategy for the bout according to her gameplay. Our plan was to fight the first two rounds on the front foot and then play counter-attacks in the last round from distance. I had won bronze in 2018 and 2019 so it feels good to change the colour of the medals to gold,” said Lovlina after the bout.
This is the second time in history that India has won four gold medals at the Women’s World Boxing Championships, the first being in 2006 when Mary Kom, Sarita Devi, Jenny Lalremliani, and Lekha K.C did so.
Meanwhile, Huang Hsiao-Wen of Chinese Taipei (54kg) and Beatriz Ferreira (60kg) of Brazil won their second World Championships gold medals after identical victories over Colombian opponents. The Taiwanese defeated Arias Castaneda Yeni Marcela 5-0, while the Brazilian defeated Valdez Pana Angie Paola 5-0.
Source:OCN
