Women’s World Boxing Championships: Home favourites Nikhat Zareen, Lovlina, Nitu and Saweety to fight for gold at Worlds

PTI

New Delhi, March 24

Nikhat Zareen, Lovlina Borgohain, Nitu Ghanghas and Saweety Boora will be buoyed by the home support as they fight to change the colour of their medals at the Women’s World Boxing Championships here this weekend.

The four Indian boxers are assured of at least a silver after pulling off thrilling victories in their respective semifinals bouts on Thursday.

For Nikhat, it’s a chance to become only the second Indian to win the prestigious title more than once after the legendary MC Mary Kom, who has a record six titles to her name. Nikhat, who has moved down to the 50kg category from the 52kg class after the latter was scrapped from the Paris Olympics, has given a good account of herself so far.

The 26-year-old arguably had the hardest path to the final of all the Indian pugilists, having to fight strong opponents across five bouts in the Olympics category. Standing between her and the second world title is another fancied opponent — two-time Asian champion Nguyen Thi Tam of Vietnam.

A technically sound boxer, Nikhat has used her years of experience and flexible tactics to pull off wins despite getting little time for recovery. She fought three back-to-back bouts on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

The spotlight also returns on Lovlina, who has been able to put behind an underwhelming year. She must have breathed a sigh of relief upon breaking the bronze medal jinx and qualifying for her maiden Worlds final. The Assamese has two bronze medals from the 2018 and 2019 editions.

The Tokyo Olympics medallist, who is also competing in a new class by moving up from the 69kg to the 75kg class, has gotten better with each bout.

She doesn’t always have the height advantage, which she enjoyed in the 69kg class, but has been able to use her speed to her benefit. She will take on Australia’s Caitlin Parker in the final on Sunday.

India’s exciting young talent Nitu, winner of the 2022 Strandja Memorial and a CWG gold medallist, has been unstoppable, notching three RSC wins before edging out Kazakh Alua Balkibekova.

She has evolved as a boxer over the past year and is now able to adapt her game according to the opponent rather than just counterattacking from a distance. Nitu will be the first Indian in action as she faces Asian Championships bronze medallist Lutsaikhan Altantsetseg of Mongolia in the final tomorrow.

The seasoned Saweety came close to winning gold in 2014 but couldn’t cross the final hurdle. She will be keen to add a world title to her kitty this time. The Haryana boxer has had the easiest path to the final, having fought just two bouts. Her semifinal was a close affair as she won by a split decision (4-3). She will have to put her best foot forward as she faces 2018 champion and 2019 bronze medallist Wang Lina of China tomorrow.

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