World Women’s Boxing Championships finals, HIGHLIGHTS: Nitu Ghanghas, Saweety Boora win gold medals

Welcome to Sportstar’s highlights of the finals of the 2023 World Women’s Boxing Championships in New Delhi where Nitu Ghanghas (48kg) and Saweety Boora (81kg) won gold medals.

Updated : Mar 25, 2023 20:56 IST - 7 MINS READ

Nitu Ghanghas (left) and Saweety Boora (right) are set to compete in the 48kg and 81kg finals, respectively at the 2023 Women’s Boxing World Championships in New Delhi.
Nitu Ghanghas (left) and Saweety Boora (right) are set to compete in the 48kg and 81kg finals, respectively at the 2023 Women’s Boxing World Championships in New Delhi. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
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Nitu Ghanghas (left) and Saweety Boora (right) are set to compete in the 48kg and 81kg finals, respectively at the 2023 Women’s Boxing World Championships in New Delhi. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Welcome to Sportstar’s live coverage of the finals of the 2023 World Women’s Boxing Championships in New Delhi where Nitu Ghanghas (48kg) and Saweety Boora (81kg) will fight for gold medals.

RESULTS
48kg final - Nitu Ghanghas bt Altantsetseg Lutsaikhan (Mongolia) by unanimous decision
81kg final - Saweety Boora bt Lina Wang (China) on points

8:55PM - That wraps up a successful day for the Indian contingent. Two finals, two gold medals. Tomorrow, Olympic bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain and reigning World Champion Nikhat Zareen will hope to add two more gold medals. Do join us for live coverage!

8:50PM - And the final medal ceremony of the day begins - the 81kg category. Kazakhstan’s Fariza Sholtay and Australia’s Emma-Sue Greentree share the bronze. Silver medal goes to China’s Wang Lina. And now, Saweety Boora, the new world champion, receives the gold medal, the second of the day for India. The Indian national anthem will be played once again, much to the delight of the home crowd.

8:40PM - Time for the 70kg category medal ceremony. Bronze medal is shared by Brazil’s Barbara Dos Santos and China’s Zhou Pan. Silver goes to Australia’s Kaye Scott Frances while Russia’s Anastasiia Demurchian grabs the gold medal.

RESULT

The bout has been sent for a review. This could make things interesting. Winner by points, Saweety Boora is the new world champion!!!!! Saweety takes a victory lap in the ring with the national flag wrapped around her.

MATCH REPORT - Saweety Boora becomes world champion in 81kg category

THIRD ROUND

Time for the last round. Wang needs to land some big ones here if she wants to turn things around. Saweety, on the other hand, just needs to makes sure she does not let her guard down. The Indian is effectively running the clock down and not letting her Chinese opponent play her game. Time’s up and it seems Saweety has done enough to clinch gold.

SECOND ROUND

The second round begins. Saweety trying to up the aggression. The referee asks the Indian to keep her head up. No clean punches in this round. And just like the first round, Saweety wins this one 3-2!

FIRST ROUND

And the bout is underway! A cautious start from both boxers. Saweety launches a flurry of punches but Wang evades them well. The Chinese boxer manages to land a few clean ones just before the round ends but as it turns out, the Indians wins the round 3-2!

8:20PM - Here we go. Final bout of the day and a much-awaited one - the 81kg final between India’s Saweety Boora and China’s Wang Lina. Saweety, in red jersey, enters the ring first. Followed by Wang in blue.

8:15PM - The next medal ceremony is for 63kg category - Colombia’s Camilo Bravo Camila Gabriela and Fatia Benmessahel of France share the bronze, silver goes to Russia’s Nataliya Sychugova while China’s Yang Chengyu receives the gold medal.

8:10PM - Time for the medal ceremony of the 54kg category where the bronze medals go to Bulgaria’s Svetlana Staneva and France’s Amina Zidani, Kazakhstan’s Karina Ibragimova takes silver while the gold goes to Italy’s Irma Testa.

8PM - Russia’s Anastasiia Demurchian beats Australia’s Kaye Scott Frances 5-0 to become the new 70kg world champion!

7:45PM - The penultimate bout of the day is about to begin - the 70kg final between Russia’s Anastasiia Demurchian and Australia’s Kaye Scott Frances.

7:40PM - China’s Yang Chengyu is the new 63kg world champion after a 4-1 win over Russia’s Nataliya Sychugova in the final.

7:25PM - Back to boxing action. Time for the 63kg final (Welterweight category) between China’s Yang Chengyu and Russia’s Nataliya Sychugova.

7:20PM - Next up is the medal ceremony for the 52kg category where the bronze medal is shared by Yuliya Apanasovich of Belarus and Rinka Kinoshita of Japan, the silver medal goes to Italy’s Sirine Charaabi while China’s Wu Yu takes the gold medal.

7:15PM - Medal ceremony for the 48kg category begins. Losing semifinalists - Yasmine Mouttaki of Morocco and Alua Balkibekova - receive the bronze medals. Mongolia’s Altantsetseg Lutsaikhan gets the silver medal. And finally, the moment everyone in the stadium had been waiting for, is here as Nitu Ghanghas, the new world champion, receives the gold medal. Time for the Indian national anthem!

7:05PM - And the new 57kg world champion, in the red corner, is Italy’s Irma Testa with a 5-0 win over Kazakhstan’s Karina Ibragimova. After falling down at the final hurdle last year, this is a brilliant comeback from the 25-year-old.

6:50PM - Time for the 57kg gold medal bout in which Italy’s Irma Testa takes on Kazakhstan’s Karina Ibragimova.

6:45PM - China’s Wu Yu is the 52kg world champion after 5-0 win over Italy’s Sirine Charaabi in the final.

6:30PM - Next up is the 52kg final between China’s Wu Yu and Italy’s Sirine Charaabi.

RESULT

Winner and the 48kg world champion, by a unanimous decision of 5-0, is Nitu Ghanghas!!!!!! A clinical performance by Nitu today. While she did lose her balance on some occasions, her aggressive approach did not give Lutsaikhan the chance to come back once the Indian was in the lead. First gold medal for India at the 2023 World Women’s Boxing Championships is in the bag!

MATCH REPORT - Nitu Ghanghas becomes world champion in 48kg category

THIRD ROUND

It has been a very close contest so far. The Mongolian is not out of it totally. Both boxers have received one yellow card. A couple of clean punches landing from Nitu! Last 30 seconds. And Nitu lands a couple more! That should do it.

SECOND ROUND

Lutsaikhan, after missing plenty, finally lands a clean punch. Nitu continues to stay aggressive and ends up losing balance. The Mongolian consistently trying Nitu to throw her off her game and lock her down. Another moment of imbalance for Nitu towards the end of the round. After two rounds, it is the Indian in the lead!

FIRST ROUND

And we are underway, Nitu on the attack straight away! While Lutsaikhan has been quite measured in her approach, Nitu has gone for the kill from the get go. Lutsaikhan manages to land a few punches towards the end but Nitu dominated that round. Let’s see what the judges think in the end.

6:05PM - The two boxers make their way towards the ring. First up, it’s Nitu Ghanghas in red followed by Altantsetseg Lutsaikhan in blue.

6PM - Time for live action! First up, it will be the 48kg gold medal bout between local favourite Nitu Ghanghas and Mongolia’s Altantsetseg Lutsaikhan.

5:45PM - Nitu’s road to the 48kg final-

Semifinal: Nitu Ghanghas bt Alua Belkibekova (KAZ) 5-2

Quarterfinal: Nitu Ghanghas bt Wada Madoka (JPN) via RSC

2nd round: Nitu Ghanghas bt Qosimova Sumaiya (TJK) via RSC

1st round: Nitu Ghanghas bt Kang Doyeon (KOR) via RSC

5:30PM - India has won 39 medals at the IBA Women’s Boxing World Championships over the years out of which 10 are gold. Will Nitu and Saweety add two more today? Stay tuned! Live action begins shortly.

PREVIEW

India’s Nitu Ghanghas and Saweety Boora will take on Mongolia’s Lutsaikhan Altantsetseg and Lina Wang of China, respectively, in the IBA Women’s Boxing World Championship 2023 finals.

At 28 years old, Altantsetseg is a two-time bronze medallist at the Asian Boxing Championships and has greater experience than the Indian, who at 22, is competing in her first final at the World Championships.

While the two will be facing each other for the first time, the Mongolian doesn’t have the best results against Indian opponents. Competing in the 52kg category, she was eliminated by Nikhat Zareen in the 2022 World Championships quarterfinals. She also lost to another Indian – Minakshi – in the semifinals of the 2022 Asian Championships. Previously, at the 2021 Asian Championships, she was beaten in a 4-1 split decision by Mary Kom.

Nitu has been in excellent form leading up to the final, stopping her first three opponents before beating the 2022 silver medallist and two-time Asian Champion Alua Belkibekova in the semifinals by a narrow 5-2 split decision. Belkibekova, who was a southpaw gave some trouble to Nitu and Altantsetseg, who is also a left-hander will hope to make use of that advantage in the final.

While Nitu ended her first three bouts early, Altantsetseg, on the other hand, has gone the distance in her contests, winning each by unanimous decision. Perhaps her most impressive win was a 5-0 decision against China’s Hu Meiyi, who had won gold at the 2023 Strandja Cup earlier this year.

China’s Lina Wang will go into her bout against India’s Saweety Boora as the favourite to win gold in the 81kg light heavyweight category. Wang is a two-time medallist in the light heavyweight division at the World Championships and will have happy memories at the KD Jadhav Stadium, having won gold at the 2018 edition in New Delhi.

While Saweety is also a former medallist at the World Championships, she’s coming off a long career drought with her last medal coming eight years back at the 2014 World Championships.

Both boxers are right-handers, although Wang has the height and reach advantage. Wang has made use of her reach and prefers to strike clean shots at opponents coming in. While Saweety successfully closed in and clinched against Australia’s Emma Sue Greentree in the semifinals, the Chinese will go into the final knowing the Indian’s strategy will be to rush and hold while landing opportunistic hooks in the inside fight.

Where to watch?

The 2023 IBA Women’s Boxing World Championship 2023 finals will be telecast live on DD Sports and streamed on its YouTube channel as well as Sony Liv from 6PM onwards.

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