Nikhat among 7 women to win gold as India sweep 20 medals at World Boxing Cup Finals

New Delhi: Two-time world champion Nikhat Zareen was among seven Indian women boxers to win gold medals while Hitesh Gulia and Sachin Siwach were the two men who also won at the World Boxing Cup Finals in Greater Noida on Thursday.

India were placed in the podium in all 20 weight categories, bagging nine gold, six silver and five bronze medals.

Reigning world champions Jaismine Lamboria (57kg) and Minakshi Hooda (48kg), Asian Games bronze medallist Preeti Pawar (54kg), world bronze medallist Parveen Hooda (60kg), former youth world champion Arundhati Choudhary (70kg) and Nupur Sheoran (+80kg) also claimed gold.

Jadumani Singh (50kg), Abhinash Jamwal (65kg), Pawan Bartwal (55kg), Ankush Phangal (80kg), Narender Berwal (+90kg) and Pooja Rani (80kg) fetched silver medals.

Neeraj Phogat (65kg), Saweety (75kg), Sumit Kundu (75kg), Jugnoo (85kg) and Naveen (90kg) ended their campaigns with bronze medals.

Jaismine stunned Paris Olympics medallist Wu Shih Yi 4–1 in the final with her punch combinations.

After beating reigning world champion, Preeti produced another memorable performance against Italy’s world championship medallist Sirine Charrabi.

Nikhat (50kg) notched up a unanimous victory over Chinese Taipei’s Guo Yi Xuan for her first gold since the 2023 World Championships, marking a successful return from injury for the star boxer.

Parveen registered a 3–2 win over Japan's Ayaka Taguchi, while Arundhati outpunched Uzbekistan’s Aziza Zokirova 5–0. Minakshi Hooda reigned 5–0 over defending Asian champion Farzona Fozilova.

In the men's section, Sachin hardly put wrong in a 5-0 win over Kyrgyzstan’s Munarbek Uulu Seiitbek.

Hitesh edged out Kazakhstan's Nurbek Mursal 3-2, overturning a deficit in the second and third rounds.