IMAGE: Nikhat Zareen grew to become solely the second boxer after Mary Kom to win two World titles. Photograph: BFI
Becoming solely the second Indian feminine to have two World Championships gold medals to her identify, the nation’s illustrious pugilist Nikhat Zareen capped off an impressive marketing campaign on the Mahindra IBA Women’s World Boxing Championship with a shocking victory within the finals on the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex in New Delhi on Sunday.
Meanwhile, later within the day, Lovlina Borgohain broke her ‘bronze jinx’ to say her maiden gold medal on the marquee occasion
Living as much as her identify, the tenacious Nikhat (50kg) oozed class in her rampant show towards the two-time Asian champion Nguyen Thi Tam of Vietnam and secured a thumping 5-0 win. The reigning World Champion asserted her dominance within the bout from the phrase go by touchdown correct punches and utilizing her fast ft to dodge the Vietnamese’s assaults.
The Indian’s breath-taking efficiency noticed her prevail within the first spherical with a 5-0 scoreline earlier than Nguyen bounced again within the second spherical with a 3-2 scoreline to arrange a grand slam end. In the ultimate spherical, Nikhat maintained her composure and proved why she’s probably the greatest within the enterprise with a sensational attacking show that helped her seal the win by unanimous choice.
IMAGE: Nikhat Zareen clinched India’s third gold within the ongoing World Championships. Photograph: BFI
With this victory, Nikhat grew to become solely the second Indian feminine pugilist to win two golds on the World Championships alongside the boxing legend Mary Kom who has claimed a report six gold medals within the competitors.
“I’m extraordinarily delighted to grow to be World Champion for the second time particularly in a special class. Today’s bout was my hardest in all the match and since this was the final match of the match I needed to make the most of my vitality fully and go away every thing within the ring. It was a rollercoaster of a bout with each of us getting warnings in addition to eight counts and it was very shut.
“My technique within the final spherical was to go all out and assault and I felt very completely happy when my hand was lifted because the winner. This medal is for India and for everybody who’ve supported us all through the match,” stated Nikhat after her bout.
IMAGE: Nikhat Zareen celebrates her win over Nguyen Thi Tam. Photograph: BFI
Despite shifting to gentle flyweight from flyweight for this 12 months’s match, the 26-year-old pugilist from Telangana adjusted extraordinarily nicely to her new weight class and carried out on the highest of ranges all through the match.
She notably toppled the highest seed and the reigning African champ Roumaysa Boualam of Algeria, two-time World Championships bronze medallist Chuthamat Raksat of Thailand and the Rio Olympics bronze medallist Ingrit Valencia of Colombia.
IMAGE: Nikhat Zareen scored a thumping 5-0 win. Photograph: BFI
Commenting on Nikhat’s victory, Ajay Singh, President of the Boxing Federation of India stated, “Congratulations to Nikhat on changing into the World Champion for a second 12 months in a row. I’m positive that she can be a shining instance for younger women throughout the nation to win gold medals for the nation. She goes to be a champion for years to come back and we are going to see an Olympics medal from right here in 2024 for positive.”
Following Nikhat’ and Lovlina’s triumphs, India now have a complete of 4 golds of their kitty on the match after the 2022 Commonwealth Games medallist Nitu Ghanghas (48kg) and three-time Asian medallist Saweety Boora (81kg) additionally gained gold for the hosts on Saturday.
IMAGE: India’s Nikhat Zareen celebrates her gold medal in entrance of a house crowd. Photograph: BFI
Two-time bronze medallist Lovlina, alternatively, defeated Caitlin Parker of Australia 5-2 to win her maiden World title.
In the 54kg class, Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Huang Hsiao-Wen of Chinese Taipei defeated Arias Castaneda Yeni Marcela of Colombia with a 5-0 scoreline and secured her second World Championships gold.
With an enormous prize pool of INR 20 crore, the celebrated occasion witnessed the participation of 324 boxers, together with a number of Olympic medallists, from 65 nations preventing for the titles within the 12 weight classes.