Nikhat Zareen and Lovlina Borgohain are champions solid in several moulds. In the previous yr, they have got traversed other routes to polish within the ring and rancid it. Come Thursday, the 2 boxers might be India’s greatest hopes within the IBA girls’s global championships beginning on the Indira Gandhi Stadium in New Delhi.
Nikhat is exuberant and outspoken. Her ringcraft is an extension of her character. With nimble footwork, speedy arms, decisive punching and an insatiable starvation to win, Nikhat submit a smashing display on the Istanbul global championships in May final yr. She cruised to the flyweight (52kg) name.
Ten months on, she is able to protect her crown at house and starts her marketing campaign in opposition to Ismayilova Anakhanim of Azerbaijan within the first spherical on Thursday. It might be a more difficult problem Nikhat this time with many boxers switching classes to be within the combine for the Paris Olympics that includes 50kg. With no first spherical bye, Nikhat should win six bouts in a draw of 35 boxers if she hopes to crown herself champion.
Rio Olympics bronze medalist Ingrit Valencia, Tokyo bronze medalist Tsukimi Namiki of Japan, Asian Games champion Chang Yuan of China, two times global champion Nazim Kyzaibay of Kazakhstan, Aziza Yokubova of Uzbekistan, a worlds bronze medalist, are all within the fray.
Like Nikhat, Lovlina too has modified her weight class, however has moved up considerably, from 69kg to middleweight (75kg), which is the closest Olympic department. After successful the Tokyo Olympics bronze, she went via a hard segment.
Adjusting to the surprising status was once now not simple for the quiet and unassuming boxer from Assam. She struggled with shape and returned with no medal from the sector championships or even the Birmingham Commonwealth Games. Add to it the massive weight shift for the Paris Olympics, she was once left struggling with on more than a few fronts.
To regain the previous hearth in her boxing, Lovlina had to return to the planning stage and in finding her focal point. It was once on the Asian Championships in November that Lovlina got here into her personal, successful gold in her new weight class.
It was once at house 5 years again that Lovlina first made a mark. She received bronze on the 2018 global championships on the identical venue and hasn’t ever appeared again since. She received bronze on the 2019 worlds in Russia as smartly sooner than Tokyo took place.
She should navigate a draw headlined by way of Chinese 2018 global champion and Olympic silver medalist Li Qian. Then there may be Panama’s Athyena Bylon, the sector silver medalist, Rady Gramane (Mozambique) and Davina Michel (France), bronze medalists at Istanbul. Having gained a primary spherical bye, she’s going to face Mexico’s Vanessa Ortiz within the Round of 16.
So much may also be anticipated from the promising Nitu Ghanghas (48kg) — the Commonwealth Games gold medalist — and the seasoned Manisha Moun (57kg) — a worlds bronze medalist. Preeti (54kg), Manju Baboriya (66kg) and CWG bronze winner Jasmine Lamboria (60kg) may even get to check the waters in Olympic classes sooner than the Paris Olympics qualifiers, which is the Asian Games in China.
India needed to make a last-minute alternate in 70 kg. They needed to substitute Sanamacha Chanu after she suffered concussion right through coaching. Reserve boxer Shruti Yadav will take her position.
The match has an enormous prize pool of 20 crores.