The World Women’s Boxing Championship,2024 has a lot to its story for India. Four new World Champions who would reign the Books of history, The Table Toppers who have set a mark of their own in this World of Competitive Sports and the Aspiring girls of the Nation, who now have mentors to boast about. While the Indian Tricolour unfurled in the Air of Indira Gandhi National Stadium and “Jana Gana Mana” played in the background, the Indian hearts swelled with pride, as their Women got the Nation proud once again.
As Nikhat Zareen and Lovlina Borgohain won their Final bouts unanimously on day 10 and the penultimate day of the World Boxing Championship,2023, India equalled its Best performance in the Tournament, where India won 4 golds back in 2006 when the tournament was held in the soil.
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The Eternal Champion of the Ring, Nikhat Zareen makes another Record
A roar of satisfaction, a smile that can never be explained through words, a girl who fought with her circumstances, who fought with the societal norms and dominated against the World’s best to break the barrier she had set for herself in 2022. Nikhat Zareen, the name on every other Indian’s lips is the World Champion for the second time consecutively.
Nikhat outclassed Nguyen Thi Tam of Vietnam in the 50kg Flyweight Category to etch her name in the unblemished gold twice. With this win, Nikhat became the only Second Woman after the Boxing legend Mary Kom to bag this Title more than once. Mary Kom has won it 6 times to date. Zareen dominated the competition from the outset, winning the opening round 5-0. Zareen won the title match with a score of 5-0 after a closely contested second round in which she shifted the balance of power more in her favour.
Sheer resilience, dominance, determination and pure class can be attributed to the name of Nikhat. Reducing to the flyweight category from the lightweight category, in a period of fewer than 6 months and bagging the World Championship Gold in this new category is something so exemplary.
The 26-year-old pugilist from Telangana has set new standards for herself. With the Olympics and Asian Championships lined up, Nikhat would be looking forward to embedding her name in every Boxing book in the World and dominating the Boxing World. The coming period of Indian Women’s Boxing is blessed with such paradigms of Perfection and the fans can just pray for witnessing the ‘Best of Nikhat’ in the upcoming Tournaments on the International level.
Lovlina roars once again, being the second Indian woman to repeat this feat
Lovlina Borgohain of India won the final match against Caitlin Parker of Australia to win the title on Sunday. The popular Indian athlete broke her streak of bronze medals when she captured her first gold in the 75 kg division at the World Championships. The curse of the bronze medal winning was broken by Borgohain. She previously received three bronze medals, two from the World Championships and one from the Tokyo Olympics. She defeated her opponent 5-2 to win the 2024 Boxing Championships final.
Lovlina started well while she used her slight weight advantage to her positive. While the opponent seemed defensive, Lovlina knocked some clean jabs. Though parker looked firm with her technique as she landed some accurate punches on Lovlina in the first round, making it a 3-2 in the first round in Lovlina’s favour. With the lead very close, Lovlina tried to change her strategy in the second round, while trying to be more defensive, but it didn’t work well for her as she lagged in the second round with 4-1.
In the penultimate round, Lovlina with all eyes on the Gold Medal sparked some dominant hooks on the opponent. The final round was a neck-to-kneel one, in which Lovlina was named the “Emerging Winner’.
With this feat, Lovlina becomes the Second Indian Woman pugilist to Win a Medal in the Olympics as well as win the World Championship, after none other than the ‘GOAT’ Mary Kom. Lovlina’s early exit from the Commonwealth Games, in 2022 was very heart-breaking for her as well as all the Indian fans. The fashion in which this champion has announced her return to the World of Boxing and the way she’s been working towards perfection is a piece of great news for Indian fans.
The Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi congratulated the four new World Champions namely Nitu Ghanghas, Nikhat Zareen, Lovlina Borgohain and Saweety Boora for the new feat they have accomplished and wished them all the best for their future endeavours. With the upcoming Asiana Boxing Championships and Olympics nearing, the Indian boxers would brace themselves for bringing more accolades to the Nation.
