Nitu, Nikhat Dominate as India Confirms 4 medals at Women’s World Championship

Day 7 of the Women’s World Boxing Championship was no less than a crowning glory for India as the Women in Red and Blue assured us 4 Medals. After some breathtaking neck-to-neck fights, while some being very dominant and one-sided; Nikhat (50kg), Lovlina (75kg) Nitu Ghanghas (48kg) and Saweety Boora (81kg) advance to the Semi-Finals day 8 at the K.D Jadhav Stadium, Delhi.

Out of 8 Quarter Final Bouts for India, 4 of the pugilists were unfortunate to not make it to the top 4, as they lost closely contested bouts to their opponents

Nitu Ghanghas leaves the opponent clueless, Referee stops the Contest for 3^rd time in a row

If you were to pick the most Dominant and Ferocious fighters of the World Championship at Delhi, the Haryana aficionado Nitu Ghanghas would be a prominent name on the list. To everyone’s amazement, Nitu is yet to finish a bout in the World Championship as she wins her hattrick bout after the referee stopped the contest in the middle of the second round of the bout against Japan’s Mada Wadoka. The reigning Commonwealth Champion has immense confidence flowing through her as she continues to knock down every opponent of hers, while she secures a medal for herself.

In the Quarter Final Bout, Ghanghas started well and cautiously as she avoided the opponent’s punches while landing some clean jabs on her body. As the first round seemed to be a cat-and-mouse game, she entered the Second Round firm and rapacious. While the Japanese stayed firm in her Defence, Nitu went on her with some hard punches around the temple and some crazy charging sessions, before the referee had seen enough. 

With the opponent finding it hard to even initiate any punches and Nitu appearing unstoppable, the referee decided to announce an RSC Winner. Though the Indian looked disappointed not to be playing out a full bout ahead of the Semi-finals, happiness gleamed through the roars of Indian fans as Nitu bought India the first medal of the Championship.

Nikhat and Lovlina live up to the Indian’s expectations, storm into Semis

As the Flagbearers of Indian Women’s boxing, Nikhat Zareen and Lovlina Borgohain had the responsibility of setting the pace and As true Champions, they stood out once again, assuring some more feathers in their caps. The reigning World Champion Nikhat Zareen and Olympics Bronze Medallist Lovlina would be India’s top picks for the Gold Medal at the Championship.

In the 50kg division, Chuthamat Raksat of Thailand, a two-time World Championships bronze medalist, was defeated by Nikhat in a hard-fought 5-2 victory. Although both pugilists gave it their all and were at the top of their game, Nikhat ultimately prevailed when the fight was assessed thanks to her better technical and tactical skills. Nikhat said his plan for today was to win the first two rounds and then “play around” in the final round. “My strategy today was to win in the first two rounds and then play around in the last round,” says Nikhat.

The 52 kg world champion Nikhat, who is participating in the lighter Olympic weight class, has had a very tough week. Nikhat has competed in four matches in the championships, with three of them occurring in the previous three days. She was unseeded after switching to a new weight division (50 kg), where up to 35 boxers were fighting.

Olympic bronze medalist Lovlina from Tokyo continued to put on a fantastic performance. She defeated an aggressive Gramane Rady Adosinda of Mozambique by a unanimous decision after displaying good control and ring craft. Strongly attempting to reach the tall Lovlina at first, Gramane’s strikes were ineffective.

Lovlina kept to her plan of avoiding close combat by boxing from a distance. She won the opening round 5-0 and played solid defence as well. In the second round, Gramane began landing punches, but Lovlina persisted in her strategy of stepping back and counterpunching with her left jab. After winning bronze at home in 2018 and then again in 2019, Lovlina will receive her third medal from the international championships.

Unfortunate news for India happened to be that, 2022 Worlds bronze medallist Manisha Moun lost to Amina Zidane of France in the 57kg quarterfinals, and Sakshi Chaudhary lost to Yu Wu of China in the 52kg quarterfinals. In the evening session, Kazakhstan’s Lazzat Kungeibayeva defeated Jaismine (60 kg) 4-3, while Jaismine (60 kg) fell to Colombia’s Paolo Valdez 0-5.

What does Day 8 bring up for the Spectators?

Day 8 brings numerous challenges for the Indian Boxing Squad. All four daring pugilists would begin India’s fight for reaching the top 2 spots in their respective categories. With the tournament being held in India itself, all the Indian fans would be wishing for four out of four finals on the penultimate day of the Women’s World Boxing Championship. Yet, India would have anticipated a stronger performance given that eight of their boxers advanced to the quarterfinals. It was an opportunity for the hosts to win more medals than the 2018 championships, when they concluded with four medals at the same Indira Gandhi Stadium, since many major nations, including the US, Canada, and Britain, boycotted the competition.

Ingrid Valencia of Colombia, who won bronze at the Rio Olympics, will compete against Nikhat in the semi-finals. In a rematch of the World Championships quarterfinals from last year, Nitu will take on Kazakhstan’s Alua Balkibekova, the current Asian champion and silver medalist from the World Championships. Lovlina will meet two-time Olympic medallist Li Qian of China. The unsung hero Saweety Boora, after winning her first match itself advances to the Semis, where she will be facing Emma-Sue Greentree of Australia.