World boxing: Minakshi, Jaismine lend golden touch as big names fail

The World Championship of boxing in Liverpool saw the coming of age of Indian women boxers as they returned their best-ever performance overseas with two gold medals, a silver and a bronze. Minakshi and Jaismine Lamboria bagged the yellow metal, Nupur got silver, and Pooja Rani settled for bronze in the event which concluded on Sunday.

The overall show was all the more creditable as two of the country’s established names — Olympic bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain and two-time world champion Nikhat Zareen — failed on the big stage this time. While Lovlina came a cropper as she made a shocking first round exit to Turkey’s Busra Isildar in the 75 kg class, Nikhat did well after coming out of injury to progress to the last eight in her 51 kg class where she succumbed to Turkey’s Buse Naz Cakiroglu.

"These women boxers are our future Olympic champions,’’ Boxing Federation of India president Ajay Singh said. Speaking to BFI media, Singh said: “The performances in Liverpool where our women boxers defeated some of the world’s best underline that Indian boxing is on a decisive upward curve. In recent months, we have implemented athlete-first policies, and these results validate that approach. This success gives us the confidence to push ahead with further reforms and new initiatives to empower our athletes.’’

Jaismine locked in India’s first gold with a thumping 4:1 victory over Paris Olympics silver medallist Julia Szeremeta of Poland in the women’s 57 kg category and Minakshi (48 kg) completed the tally with an identical 4:1 win over Nazym Kyzaibay of Kazakhstan, a three-time world champion and Paris Olympics bronze medallist.

Despite featuring in their first-ever World Championship final, neither Minakshi nor Jaismine showed any sign of nerves against their more illustrious opponents and were in complete control throughout the final.

Tall and lithe Nupur (women’s 80-plus kg) also came within striking distance of gold when she took the fight to Poland’s Agama Kaczmarska, a multiple European championships medallist. However, the experienced Pole managed to do enough to eke out a 3:2 verdict at the end of three rounds. Meanwhile, Pooja Rani earned a bronze after she went down 1:4 against Emily Asquith of England in the women’s 80 kg semi-final.