New Delhi: A year after Indian boxers returned empty-handed from the Paris Olympics, a largely new-look squad will look to impress in its first major outing at the World Championships that begins in Liverpool on Thursday.
Two-time world champion Nikhat Zareen will headline India’s campaign at the World Championships. (Hindustan Times)
Held under the aegis of World Boxing, the event features all seven Olympic divisions in men and women — 10 weight categories each — as over 500 boxers from more than 65 nations, including 17 Paris Olympic medallists, will be in action. It is the first instance of men’s and women’s competitions being held in the same world championships.
For India, the spotlight will be on the seasoned Nikhat Zareen and Lovlina Borgohain, who both enter the event as reigning world champions. Nikhat competes in the 51kg category, having won her world titles in 52kg (2022) and 50kg (2023). Lovlina, a three-time Worlds medallist and bronze medallist at the Tokyo Olympics, will defend her 75kg crown.
Both the boxers are coming off limited gametime, having competed in just one domestic meet since the Paris Games. The women’s team skipped the Brazil leg of World Boxing Cup in April because of the national championships, and Nikhat and Lovlina were not part of the squad that travelled to the Kazakhstan World Cup in July as they were then not part of the national camp.
“It’s definitely challenging to come back after a break. There is some nervousness but all that will go away when I enter the ring,” Nikhat told HT from Sheffield where the Indian team had a two-week camp in the run-up for the Worlds. Pooja Rani (80kg) is the other experienced campaigner in the women’s ranks. The 33-year-old two-time Asian champion is coming off a silver medal at Kazakhstan and will hope to go deep in her non-Olympic division.
The women’s squad otherwise bears a fresh look with Minakshi (48kg), Sakshi (54kg), Paris Olympian Jaismine Lamboria (57kg), Sanju (60kg) and Nupur Sheoran (80+kg) all hoping to build on their recent success in Kazakhstan.
The men’s team, on the other hand, is an almost entirely revamped unit. With 2019 Worlds silver medallist Amit Panghal not even in the national camp and 2023 Worlds bronze medallist Nishant Dev having turned pro, the team has many newcomers who had impressed in the two World Cups before topping the evaluation process held in Patiala.
Jadumani Singh Mandengbam (50kg), Abhinash Jamwal (65kg) and Hitesh Gulia (70kg) will be making their World Championships debut and are expected to take Indian boxing forward, especially after a few dismal years. Narender Berwal (90+), the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games bronze medallist, will hope to do better than his third place in Kazakhstan, against stiffer competition.
“This team is a powerful mix of seasoned campaigners and a new wave of incredibly talented young boxers who are ready to make their mark. The belief we have in this group is absolute, and we are fully prepared for every challenge the World Championships will throw at us,” men’s national coach Dharmendra Singh Yadav said.