Minakshi Hooda, Preeti Pawar, Ankush Phangal and Narender Berwal powered India to a flawless start on the opening day of the World Boxing Cup Finals 2025 as all four secured medals with dominant wins in Greater Noida on Sunday.

With the tournament featuring only the world’s top eight boxers in each category, the Indian quartet cruised through their opening bouts at the Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex to reach the semi-finals, thereby securing podium finishes.

Reigning women’s 48kg world champion Minakshi Hooda won a high-tempo quarter-final bout 5-0 in her pet category against Kazakhstan’s Bolat Akbota. 

Preeti, boxing in women’s 54kg, followed with an equally impressive 5-0 win using sharp combinations to overwhelm Uzbekistan’s former youth world champion Nigina Uktamova.

In the men’s division, Ankush Phangal produced a composed performance in 80kg, soaking up early pressure before shifting gears against Japan’s Go Wakaya to register a 5-0 unanimous win.

In the 90+kg division, Narender Berwal delivered a gritty performance, pushing through a cut above his eye with disciplined defence to secure a 4-1 victory over Ukraine’s Andrii Khaletskyi.

On Monday, Pawan Bartwal (men’s 55kg), Sumit (men’s 75kg), Naveen Kumar (men’s 90kg), World Boxing Cup Brazil 2025 medalist Jadumani Singh (men’s 50kg) and Hitesh (men’s 70kg) will be in action.

Commonwealth Games champion Nikhat Zareen will start her campaign directly from the semi-finals later in the competition. Meanwhile, India’s Olympic medallist Lovlina Borgohain is not competing in the tournament due to injury. Saweety Boora is filling in for her in the women’s 75kg.