New Delhi [India], March 25 (ANI): Scripting historical past, exuberant Indian pugilists Nitu Ghanghas and Saweety Boora had been topped as World Champions for the primary time after registering contrasting victories within the finals of the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championship on the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex right here on Saturday.
While the 2022 Commonwealth Games gold medallist Nitu (48kg) defeated Lutsaikhan Altantsetseg of Mongolia with a 5-0 scoreline to clinch her first World Championships medal, three-time Asian medallist Saweety (81kg) needed to grind exhausting to safe a 4-3 win on factors after the bout was reviewed in opposition to Wang Lina of China to clinch her second Worlds medal.
Maintaining her red-hot type, Nitu (48kg) utilized her attacking supremacy from shut vary and good motion to make gentle work of the two-time Asian bronze medallist Lutsaikhan. The 22-year-old pugilist from Bhiwani began off the bout energetically by touchdown a fast flurry of punches on the Mongolian and showcased an excellent mixture of relentless assault and resolute defence to seal the win by unanimous choice.
“I am very happy after winning the gold medal. I fell short in my quest for the gold last year so we worked on the mistakes and won it this time round in front of the home support. Having discussed with my coaches yesterday I had decided to be aggressive since the first round today to get the scores in my favour. I have been working hard for many years and this medal means a lot to me,” stated Nitu after her bout.
Competing in her second World Championships last, Saweety confronted a tricky problem in opposition to the 2018 World Champion Wang Lina. However, the Indian made use of her excessive technical means and power all through the bout to impressively overpower her opponent within the intently contested bout.
“I am thrilled after fulfilling my dream of becoming the World Champion. The bout went well and I was able execute our planning perfectly. My performances in the tournament got better as the bouts progressed with my body also responding well. I want to thank the fans for their constant love and support,” stated Saweety after the bout.
Both pugilists had been awarded with INR 82.7 lakhs ($100,000) every in prize cash for being topped because the World Champions.
In the 57kg class, the Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Irma Testa of Italy additionally clinched her first World Championships gold as she outpunched Karina Ibragimova of Kazakhstan with a 5-0 win. The Italian, who needed to accept silver on the match’s earlier version after a hard-fought 1-4 defeat in opposition to Lin Yu-Ting of Chinese Taipei, gave it her all to keep away from a repeat of that end result this time spherical and secured a memorable victory.
Following Nitu and Saweety’s historic triumphs, India’s quest for 2 extra gold medals will proceed on Sunday when the reigning World Champion Nikhat Zareen and Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain take to the ring for his or her respective finals bout.
Nikhat (50kg) will tackle the two-time Asian champion Nguyen Thi Tam of Vietnam in a bid for back-to-back World Championships gold medals whereas Lovlina (75kg) will sq. off in opposition to the two-time Commonwealth Games medallist Caitlin Parker of Australia.
The ongoing prestigious occasion is witnessing the participation of 324 boxers, together with a number of Olympic medallists, from 65 international locations combating for titles within the 12 weight classes. The match has a large prize pool of INR 20 crore. (ANI)