Women’s World Boxing Championships: Nitu Ghanghas, Saweety Boora clinches Gold medal

Three more Indian boxers have progressed into the finals of the tournament.

Nitu Ghanghas defeated Mongolian Luksaikhan (5-0) on points in the final and claimed the gold medal at the women’s World Boxing Championships in the minimum weight category (45-48 kg). The final scoreline read (29-26, 28-27, 29-26, 29-26, 28-27) all going in favour of Nitu. The first rounds went in the favour of the 22-year-old but the third round was evenly poised with both boxers exchanging punches.

Nitu started the bout on a great note and started attacking from the word go. The Indian was always looking to punch the Mongolian and in the process fell four times inside the first three minutes. She made good use of her strong left hand and attempted the punches to perfection. The Mongolian boxer came back strongly in the second round with Nitu losing balance twice. The Commonwealth gold medallist was awarded a yellow card as well.

Lutsaikhan performed well only in phases which did not go in her favour. The Mongolian too received a yellow card in the final two minutes of the match. In the final round, both started to attack aggressively and exchanged punches simultaneously. The Mongolian was hopeful of winning the match and kept her right hand upwards after the match but it was the Indian who came out successful winning the gold medal.

Nitu Ghanghas' performance in the Women's World Boxing Championships

R32 - Kang Do-yeon (RSC)

R16 - Sumaiya Kosimova (RSC)

Quarterfinals - Madoka Wada (RSC)

Semifinals - Alua Balkibekova (3-2)

Final - Luksaikhan Altantsetseg (5-0)

Nitu Ghanghas started the tournament on a bright note winning the first three matches through RSC (Referee stops count). The gold medallist had a tough task in both the semifinal and final facing tougher opponents. Lutsaikhan defeated all her opponents (5-0) en route to the final. The youngster has won two gold medals at the World Youth Championships followed by a gold medal in the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Saweety Boora

Saweety Boora defeated Wang Lina to claim the gold medal in the light heavyweight category at the World Boxing Championships. This is India’s second gold medal with two more bouts remaining tomorrow (Nikhat Zareen and Lovlina Borgohain). The Indian pugilist like Nitu Ghanghas started the proceedings on a bright note attacking the Chinese. Saweety was equally good in both attack and defence (dodging the Chinese). At the end of the first round, Saweety got three ten-pointers from three judges and got a split verdict (3-2). The second round was a tightly contested one with Saweety maintaining her defence. 

Unlike the starting bout, this match was evaluated by the observers and the evaluators after the referees gave a split decision. In the end, it was Saweety who emerged victoriuos by points (split decision). Also, this is Saweety’s first gold medal at the World Championships having lost the final in the 2014 edition.

Saweety Boora performance at World Boxing Championships

Quarterfinals - defeated Kebikava (5-0)

Semifinals - defeated Emma-Sue Greentree (4-3)

Final - defeated Wang Lina (by points)

The 2014 World Championship silver medallist received a bye in the opening round and directly progressed through to the quarterfinals. The 30-year-old defeated Kebikava in a one-sided bout in the quarterfinals but had to go through a tougher match in the semifinals against Greentree from Australia. She now has won a gold medal in both the Asian and World Championships and shall qualify for the Asian Games as well.