Lovlina, Nikhat prevail with national boxing gold; Railways celebrate team trophy

The national boxing championships happened on Monday, with Lovlina Borgohain and Nikhat Zareen winning gold medals. Also, the Railways lifted the team trophy to bask in its glory.

Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain and current world champion Nikhat Zareen documented polar wins, clinching gold. Consequently, Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) won the team title on Monday, earning ten medals at the Elite Women's National Boxing Championships in Bhopal. Lovlina of Assam defeated Services Sports Control Board's (SSCB's) Arundhati Choudhary 5-0 in the 75kg final. Elsewhere, Nikhat met a tough challenge from Anamika of RSPB in the 50kg clash before the 26-year-old from Telangana staggered the match in her favour 4-1, thus defending the title.

World Championships silver medallist Manju Rani led RSPB's domination on the final day, outpunching Tamil Nadu's S Kalaivani 5-0 in the 48kg final. Shiksha (54kg), Poonam (60kg), Shashi Chopra (63kg) and Nupur (+81kg) happened to be the other RSPB gold medallists, bagging three silver and two bronze medals, reports PTI.

Madhya Pradesh, with a gold, a couple of silver and five bronze medals, and Haryana (two gold and bronze each) held the second and third positions, respectively. Young Manipur boxer Sanamacha Thokchom Chanu, winning the gold at the 2021 Youth World Championships, put on a fantastic show, securing the title in the 70kg category, defeating Shruti Yadav of Madhya Pradesh 3-2.

Manisha of Haryana (57kg) and Saweety (81kg), Sakshi of SSCB (52kg), and Manju Bamboria of MP (66kg) also won the gold medals in their separate classes during the event, which had participations of 302 boxers in 12 classifications.