Olympic bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain and ace Indian pugilist Nikhat Zareen have been named in India’s 20-member squad for the World Boxing Championships 2025, scheduled in Liverpool, England, from September 4 to 14.

The squad was finalised following a week-long selection assessment at the National Institute of Sports (NIS) in Patiala.

This will be the inaugural World Boxing Championships held by World Boxing – the newly-formed international governing body for the sport – and will see boxers from all over the globe compete for medals in 20 divisions – 10 weight classes for men and as many for women.

The bouts will be held in Olympic-style format. Borgohain will compete in the women’s 75kg category while Nikhat will be seen in the 51kg. Olympian Pooja Rani also grabbed the women’s 80kg spot.

Commonwealth Games champion Nitu Ghanghas, however, missed the cut in the women’s 48kg with the spot going to Meenakshi Hooda.

Both Borgohain and Zareen have won gold medals at World Championships before but these were under the previous governing body.

The meet in Liverpool will also mark the two Indian boxers’ return to the Indian national setup for the first time since the Paris 2024 Olympics and their first World Boxing event.

Neither competed at the second World Boxing Cup in Astana earlier this month while India didn’t field any female boxers for the first World Cup in Brazil.

Both boxers also missed out on the nationals this year but impressed at the Elite Women’s Boxing Tournament held in Hyderabad earlier this month, which earned them spots in the national camp.

Asian Games bronze medallist Narender Berwal (90+kg), World Boxing Cup gold medallists Hitesh Gulia (70kg) and Abhinash Jamwal (65kg) are also in the 20-member shortlist.

Indian squad for World Boxing Championships 2025

Women’s 48kg – Meenakshi Hooda
Women’s 51kg – Nikhat Zareen
Women’s 54kg – Sakshi
Women’s 57kg – Jaismine Lamboria
Women’s 60kg – Sanju Khatri
Women’s 60kg – Neeraj Phogat
Women’s 70kg – Sanamacha Chanu
Women’s 75kg – Lovlina Borgohain
Women’s 80kg – Pooja Rani
Women’s 80+kg – Nupur Sheoran
Men’s 50kg – Jadumani Singh Mandengbam
Men’s 55kg – Pawan Bartwal
Men’s 60kg – Sachin Siwach Jr
Men’s 65kg – Abhinash Jamwal
Men’s 70kg – Hitesh Gulia
Men’s 75kg – Sumit Kundu
Men’s 80kg – Lakshya Chahar
Men’s 85kg – Jugnoo Ahlawat
Men’s 90kg – Harsh Chaudhary
Men’s 90+kg – Narender Berwal