World Boxing Championships 2025: Nikhat Zareen begins campaign with dominant win

Khel Today Bureau

Liverpool: India’s star boxer Nikhat Zareen announced her return on the international stage with a clinical win in the opening round of the women’s 51kg weight category at the World Boxing Championships in Liverpool on Saturday.

The 29-year-old, who was crowned world champion twice before and she had not competed in any international event this year but did not show any signs of rustiness as she was dominated USA’s Jennifer Lozano from the first minute to get a 5-0 verdict.

However, it was not a very good outing for the other two Indians in action on Saturday.

Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain went down 0:5 against Busra Isildar of Turkey in the second round of the women’s 75kg category while Hitesh Gulia’s spirited fight was not enough to avoid a 1:4 loss against Finn Robert Bos of Netherlands in the men’s 70kg bout.

India has fielded a 20-member contingent at the inaugural World Championships being held under the aegis of the World Boxing – a recently formed international governing body for boxing — and have made a strong start to their campaign.

In the Friday night session, World Boxing Cup Astana gold medallist Jaismine Lamboria defeated Daria-Olha Hutarina of Ukraine 5:0 in the women’s 57kg bout while Narender Berwal opened his men’s 90+kg campaign with a 4:1 win over Martin McDonagh of Ireland.

Two more boxers will be in action in the evening session on Saturday with Sachin (men’s 60kg) taking on Jacob Cassar of Australia while Sanju (women’s 60kg) will face Aneta Rygielska of Poland.