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India’s Nitu Ghanghas and Saweety Boora were crowned champions in their respective weight categories at the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships on Saturday. Nitu beat Mongolia’s Lutsaikhan Altansetseg 5-0 to win gold in the 48kg category, while Saweety outplayed China’s Wang Lina 4-3 to win the 81kg title.
Cheered on by the weekend crowd at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi Indoor Sports Complex, Nitu's chose the tactic of persistent attack from the word go. It enabled her to tighten her grip over the gold medal as her rival from Mongolia looked a bit unprepared for the onslaught.
The Mongolian boxer made her presence felt in the second round and made efforts to recover the lost ground in the third and final round. But the Indian boxer's blitzkrieg tactics gave her the upper hand. Nitu Ghanghas eventually clinched her first world championship title, with a score of 5-0.
“My plan was to start aggressively in the first round. And I am happy to have won world championships gold,” Nitu said in a post-gold medal match interaction.
Later in the evening, Indian heavyweight boxer Saweety Boora defeated Chinese boxer Wang Lina to take India’s medal tally to two golds.
In the 57kg category, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist Irma Testa of Italy clinched her first world championship gold. The Italian boxer outplayed Karina Ibragimova of Kazakhstan 5-0.
On Sunday, India’s Nikhat Zareen and Lovlina Borgohain will compete for gold medals in their respective weight categories.
No selection trials for Indian boxers for Asian Games
India’s high performance director Bernard Dunne said that there will be no selection trials to pick boxers for the Asian Games, scheduled to be held this year in China. The postponed 2022 Asian Games will also act as the qualifying tournament for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
“Nikhat will represent India at the 2022 Asian Games,” Dunne said at a press conference before the start of the gold medal bouts. “Boxers who win gold or silver in the Olympic Games weight categories will be eligible to compete at the Asian Games.”
Dunne, appointed as the high performance director last year by the Boxing Federation of India (BFI), also stated that boxers will be constantly evaluated in the national camp.
