Nikhat, Lovlina win gold at Women's World Boxing Championships

Nikhat Zareen and Lovlina Borgohain made a memorable Sunday for Indians at the Women's World Boxing Championships in New Delhi.

While Zareen added a second World Championships title to her name, defeating Vietnam's Nguyen Thi Tam in the 50kg summit clash, Lovlina upstaged her Australian opponent Caitlin Parker with a split 5-2 verdict in the 75 kg category.

After this win, Nikhat has become the second Indian after the legendary MC Mary Kom to win the title of the prestigious tournament twice.

"I am very happy that I have become a world champion for the second time, especially in an Olympic category," PTI quoted Nikhat as saying after the bout.

The first bout of the day between the two Asians was an exciting affair that went down to the wire.

"Today's bout was the toughest for me, she is an Asian champion and my next target is Asian Games and I might meet her, so I will work hard," Nikhat said.

"It was a roller coaster bout, she got warning, I got warning, she got count so did I. But I went all out." Nikhat, who has moved down from her preferred 52kg, looked tentative at first as Tam was the first one to attack. But after a few seconds, the home favourite leapt forward to attack. She then landed two right hooks, followed by straight jabs.

Tam was handed a penalty point for clinching further, tilting the result in Nikhat's favour as she took the first three minutes by an unanimous verdict.

But Tam made a strong comeback as she launched into attack mode. The southpaw landed several punches, forcing Nikhat to play with her head down that earned her a penalty point. The Vietnamese managed to take the round 3-2.

In the final three minutes, both boxers went for broke and attacked each other relentlessly.

If Nikhat's powerful right cross forced the referee to give Tam the eight count, Tam's jab compelled the referee to do the same to the Indian.

"For me, this is the first major competition in this category after the Commonwealth Games, which did not have much competition.

"But here, countries from all over the world competed and had back-to-back matches also, my body was a bit slow in some matches. I will learn from these experience and try to become stronger," Nikhat, who has already qualified for the Asian Games, said.

Lovina Emerges Victorious

The 25-year-old has won three bronze medals at marquee events, including two at the World Championships and one at the Tokyo Olympics. "I am happy to win the gold and make India proud," a relieved Lovlina said after her final bout.

"I had two bronze in Worlds and one in the Olympics. Worked really hard to change the colour. I am ecstatic to have changed the colour," she said.

"Ups and downs are part of life, but I took these as opportunities and worked hard and I have gold today." It was also a redemption of sorts after a string of underwhelming performances after the Olympic medal.

Lovlina has had a roller coaster of a year and a half. The Assam boxer, who prefers to keep a low profile, was pushed to the spotlight ever since she won the bronze at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

She had afterwards admitted that she lost focus due the endless felicitations and other commitments outside the boxing ring, which affected her performance. She made an early exit from the last edition of championships in 2022.

Lovlina was at the centre of controversy at the 2022 Commonwealth Games as she alleged that her preparations were getting affected due to the "continuous harassment" of her coaches.

Her personal coach Sandhya Gurung, whom she credits for pulling her out of a difficult mental situation before the Tokyo Olympics, was not allowed to enter the Games Village since she did not have an accreditation.

In the end, Gurung was given an accreditation and also allotted a room in the Games Village. But the result was the same as the World Championship -- an early exit.

Lovlina then bulked herself up from 69kg to 75kg, which became an Olympic category. She has put in the hard yards to adapt to her new weight class, improving her power punches.

And the Assam boxer has been reaping the rewards. She won the National Games, the Asian Championships and the National Championships before winning gold at the Worlds, her first big medal since the Olympics.

Brought up at Baro Mukhia village of Assam's Golaghat district, Lovlina started out as a kickboxer, following the footsteps of her two elder sisters -- Licha and Lima -- before Sports Authority of India coach Padum Boro, while scouting for talent in Assam's Golaghat district, noticed her.

He introduced her to boxing and she took to it like fish to water. She won bronze on debut at the 2018 World Championship, followed by another bronze a year later. She became the first boxer from Assam to qualify for Tokyo Olympics.

Lovlina was, however, laid low by COVID-19 in 2020 and missed a training trip to Europe because of the infection. But, she rose from relative obscurity to create the biggest moment of her career -- winning an Olympic medal -- in 2021.

On Saturday, Nitu Ghanghas (48kg) and Saweety Boora (81kg) were crowned world champions in their respective weight categories.

Hosts India matched their best-ever performance in terms of gold medals.

India had won four gold in the 2006 edition at home which was also the country's best ever performance with a haul of eight medals, including a silver.