Women’s World Boxing Championships 2023 – The Fantastic Four Shine

Article by Shashi Thakur

India came across as a powerful force at the IBA 2023 Women’s World Boxing Championship, hosted in New Delhi. The tournament ended with four Indian female boxers attaining gold medals in various weight categories. Saweety Boora, Nitu Ghanghas, Nikhat Zareen, and Lovlina Borgohain were the top players in their respective categories, contributing to India’s memorable feat.

The 13th edition of the Women’s World Boxing Championship 2023 was coordinated by the International Boxing Association (IBA), taking place between March 15 to March 26, 2023.

Indian boxer Nikhat Zareen won her second gold medal (Light flyweight 50kg) over Vietnam’s Nguyen Thi Tam, at the World Boxing Championship on 26th March, becoming the only second Indian female to attain this victory. Plus, Lovlina Borgohain bagged her first gold medal along with Nitu Ghanghas and Saweety Boora, at the championship. 

(Image credit: TOI)

This is the second time in history that India has earned four gold medals at the Women’s World Boxing Championships. The first time India achieved this was in 2006 when Mary Kom, Sarita Devi, Jenny Lalremliani, and Lekha K.C all won gold in their respective categories.

The Women’s World Boxing Championship in New Delhi climaxed in a burst of laurels for India. The Indian tricolor climbed on the topmost pole four times, and four times the Indian national anthem echoed around the auditorium. Nitu Ghanghas, Saweety Boora, Nikhat Zareen, and Lovlina Borgohain, our four golden girls made all Indians proud with their performances inside the boxing ring.

The extraordinary spectacle of our winning girls was evaluated by Omkar Nath Yadav, who has been related for four decades with boxing. Yadav was a national-level boxer, serving as a coach and talent scout. He first spotted the talent of Nikhat Zareen way back in the year 2009. After watching her in a few bouts, he was impressed by her terrific footwork and punching speed.

(Image credit: TGF)

“In this championship, Nikhat was facing a very tough opponent Nguyen Thi Tam of Vietnam, the Asian champion. The Vietnamese girl was a hard-punching fighter and Nikhat had to pull out an extra effort to win. But she has that ability. When the struggle is hard, she brings out an extra effort from within,” said Yadav.

“Among the other boxers, Nitu Ghanghas was very good too. She is a product of Bhiwani in Haryana and has been coached by Jagdeesh Singh, the same man who coached Olympic medalist Vijender Singh and others. Nitu was very aggressive and knew how to dominate the fight against her opponent from Mongolia. From start to finish, there was no doubt that Nitu would win. Saweety Bora faced a tough time and so did Lovlina Borgohain. But I am glad that they too won and enhanced our gold medal tally,” acknowledged Yadav.

Nitu Ghanghas beat Mongolia’s Lutsaikhan Altantsetseg, to seal the gold in the (Minimumweight 45-48 kg category) finals, the first one to win for the home team in this championship. It’s worth referring to that Nitu is a two-time world youth champ, while the Mongolian is a two-time Asian Championship bronze medallist.

In the last round, Ghanghas carried her attacking moves and obtained a yellow card. Minutes later, her opponent, who was frantic to get back into the game, also received one. But, Nitu’s aggressive mood helped her to save power in the contest. The judges unanimously voted every ring in her favor, declaring her the victor.

(Image credit: Zee News)

Saweety Boora defeated China’s Wang Lina in the (Light heavyweight) 75-81 kg category to bestow India its second gold of the tournament, on 25th March. She began the first two rounds with alertness and held onto her position for a minute straight before attacking her rival. She won the rounds with a 3-2 tally. 

The third round saw Wang avenging, but Boora stunned her with a last-minute throttle to defend the round, and consequently the gold medal.

Boxing has often been the exhibit of not just strength, but also calm, resilience, and ploys. It’s much more than just unexpected punches. Nitu Ghanghas and Saweety Boora became the sixth, and seventh, Indian female players to clutch the title of World Champion, after Mary Kom.

(Image credit:India Today)

Indians all over the world are now in a celebrating mood as Indian boxer Lovlina Borgohain showed a power-packed return on Sunday. The 25-year-old boxer defeated Australian boxer Caitlin Parker by 5-2 to clinch the top medal in the (Middleweight) 75 kg category and win her first-ever World Championship gold medal.

The Olympic medallist boxer from Assam won her maiden World Championships gold after two bronze victories. She has won three bronze medals at marquee events, comprising two at the World Championships and one at the Tokyo Olympics 2021.

It’s a substantial moment for Lovlina, who chooses to keep a low profile, but was thrust into the spotlight ever since she bagged the bronze at the Tokyo Olympics. Sentimental Borgohain took to Twitter to convey her enthusiasm at winning the World Champion title. The Assam boxer expressed gratitude to her parents, her pillar of support.

(Image credit: Twitter)

The prestigious contest, with an enormous prize pool of INR 20 crore, observed the participation of 324 boxers, involving numerous Olympic medallists, from 65 nations battling in the 12 weight categories for the coveted crowns. India rose as the topmost country in the tournament. Winning four gold medals, India shoved dominant China to second place and mighty Russia had to be satisfied with third place.