Women’s World Boxing Championship: India’s Nikhat, Lovlina, Neetu and Sweety eye gold

Nikhat Zareen, Lovlina Borgohain, Neetu Ghanghas and Saweety Boora continued their impressive run in the finals of the Women’s World Boxing Championships in front of home fans. Will be desperate to change the color of the medals. All the four Indians have assured themselves of at least a silver medal by winning their semi-finals here on Thursday.

Nikhat will have a chance to become only the second Indian after boxing great MC Mary Kom to hold this prestigious title more than once. Mary Kom is a six-time world champion. Nikhat is competing in the lower 50kg category after being dropped from 52kg from the Paris Olympics.

The 26-year-old Nikhat’s journey to the final in the light flyweight category was the most difficult of all Indian boxers, having faced strong opponents in all five bouts. She will now face two-time Asian champion Nguyen Thi Tam of Vietnam.

Nikhat fought three consecutive matches (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) and admitted that she was tired but before the final she got a break of two days which will be important to recover.

All eyes will also be on Lovlina who will be feeling relieved after winning the bronze medal. He entered the final of the World Championship for the first time. The boxer from Assam had won bronze medals in the 2018 and 2019 editions.

The Tokyo Olympic medalist is also playing in a new weight category, moving from 69kg to middleweight 75kg. She will face Commonwealth Games bronze medalist Caitlin Parker of Australia in the final on Sunday.

At the same time, 2022 Strandja Memorial and Commonwealth Games gold medalist Neetu won three consecutive RSC’s (stopping the match by the referee) after which she defeated Alua Balkibekova of Kazakhstan. She will take on Asian Championship bronze medalist Lutsaikhan Altantsetseg of Mongolia in the final on Saturday.

The experienced Sweety came close to winning the gold medal in 2014 and will be eyeing her maiden world title. The boxer from Haryana reached the finals after playing two bouts and then won the semi-finals 4-3. On Saturday, she will face 2018 champion and 2019 bronze medalist Wang Lina of China.

This quartet will have a chance to equal India’s best performance in terms of gold medals. The country’s best performance came in 2006 when Mary Kom, Sarita Devi, Jenny RL and Lekha KC won gold medals. India had won a total of eight medals in this phase with four gold, one silver and three bronze.