New Delhi [India], March 26 (ANI): India capped off an excellent marketing campaign by ending with the best gold medals (4) on the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championship after the nation’s illustrious pugilists Nikhat Zareen and Lovlina Borgohain recorded stellar victories by contrasting margins within the finals on the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex right here on Sunday.
The reigning World champion Nikhat (50kg) defeated Nguyem Thi Tam of Vietnam to win gold for a second consecutive yr on the match whereas the Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Lovlina (75kg) claimed her maiden Worlds gold with a 5-2 win on factors after the bout was reviewed towards Caitlin Parker of Australia.
Alongside Nikhat and Lovlina, 2022 Commonwealth Games medallist Nitu Ghanghas (48kg) and three-time Asian medallist Saweety Boora (81kg) had been the opposite gold medallists for the hosts. All pugilists had been rewarded with INR 82.7 lakhs ($100,000) every in prize cash for changing into World Champions.
“Congratulations @LovlinaBorgohai for her stupendous feat at the Boxing World Championships. She showed great skill. India is delighted by her winning the Gold medal,” tweeted PM Narendra Modi.
“Congratulations to @nikhat_zareen for her spectacular victory at the World Boxing Championships and winning a Gold. She is an outstanding champion whose success has made India proud on many occasions,” tweeted PM Narendra Modi.
Applauding the gold medallists, Ajay Singh, the President of Boxing Federation of India stated, “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.”Living as much as her identify, the tenacious Nikhat (50kg) oozed class in her rampant show towards the two-time Asian champion Nguyen as she asserted her dominance within the bout from the phrase go by touchdown correct punches and utilizing her fast ft to dodge the Vietnamese’s assaults.. The 2022 Commonwealth Games gold medallist maintained her composure all through the bout and proved why she’s among the best within the enterprise with a sensational attacking show that helped her seal the win by unanimous resolution.
With this victory, Nikhat grew to become solely the second Indian feminine pugilist to win two golds on the World Championships alongside the boxing legend Mary Kom who has claimed a file six gold medals within the competitors.
“I’m extraordinarily delighted to develop into World Champion for the second time particularly in a special class. Today’s bout was my hardest in all the match and since this was the final match of the match I needed to make the most of my vitality utterly and depart the whole lot within the ring. It was a rollercoaster of a bout with each of us getting warnings in addition to eight counts and it was very shut.
My technique within the final spherical was to go all out and assault and I felt very glad when my hand was lifted because the winner. This medal is for India and for everybody who’ve supported us all through the match,” stated Nikhat after her bout.
Competing in her first World Championships last, Lovlina confronted a troublesome problem towards the two-time Commonwealth Games medallist Parker however produced a world class show to come back out on prime within the intently contested matchup. The bout went from side to side with the Indian edging out her opponent with a 3-2 margin within the first spherical earlier than the Australian coming again to prevail within the subsequent spherical by 4-1. Ultimately, the 25-year-old Assam born pugilist utilized her huge expertise and supreme technical potential to outpunch her opponent and add a safe her third Worlds medal.
“I feel happy on becoming the World Champion and win 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,” stated Lovlina after the bout.This is the second time in historical past that India have gained 4 gold medals on the Women’s World Boxing Championships different event being in 2006 when Mary Kom, Sarita Devi, Jenny Lalremliani and Lekha Ok.C had gained gold for the nation.
Meanwhile, the Tokyo Olympics medallists Huang Hsiao-Wen of Chinese Taipei (54kg) and Beatriz Ferreira (60kg) of Brazil additionally secured their second World Championships gold after registering an identical victories towards Colombian opponents. While the Taiwanese beat Arias Castaneda Yeni Marcela by 5-0, the Brazilian ousted Valdez Pana Angie Paola with the identical scoreline.
With a large prize pool of INR 20 crore, the distinguished occasion witnessed the participation of 324 boxers, together with a number of Olympic medallists, from 65 international locations preventing for the titles within the 12 weight classes.
Indian medallists: Gold: Nitu Ghanghas (48kg), Nikhat Zareen (50kg), Lovlina Borgohain (75) and Saweety Boora (81kg). (ANI)