Current Affairs - Boxing

Indian boxer Nikhat Zareen has won the gold medal in the 52-kg category at the Women's World Championship at the 12th edition of the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships held in Istanbul (Turkey) beating Jutamas Jitpong (Thailand).

• Nikhat became the fifth Indian woman boxer to do so after Mary Kom, Sarita Devi, Jenny RL and Lekha KC.
• Manisha Moun and Parveen Hooda also won one Bronze medal each.
• India ranked joint second with Turkey with 3 medals (1 Gold, 2-Bronze) after Ireland (2-Gold).

• On 8^th august 2021, Indian boxer Mandeep Jangra won his second professional bout, clinching a technical knockout against American Devon Lira.
• The silver medallist at the 2013 Asian Championships and the 2014 Commonwealth Games, turned professional in March 2021.
• The Indian won on technical knockout in the second round of the lightweight contest.
• He had beaten Argentina’s Luciano Ramos in his debut bout on May 8.

Lovlina Borgohain from Assam became second Indian woman after Mary Kom (2012 London Olympics) to win a bronze in Olympics.

• Lovlina Borgohain went down to Busenaz Surmeneli of Turkey in the welterweight (69kg) semifinal of Tokyo Olympics to settle for a bronze medal.
• She has become only the third Indian boxer to ensure a podium finish at the showpiece after Vijender Singh (2008) and MC Mary Kom (2012). Hers is also the first Olympic medal in Indian boxing in nine years.

Achievements

• Olympic Games: 2020 Tokyo (Bronze Medal)
• World Championships: 2018 New Delhi (Bronze Medal); 2019 Ulan-Ude (Bronze Medal)
• Asian Championships: 2017 Ho Chi Minh City (Bronze Medal); 2021 Dubai (Bronze Medal)
• Awards: Arjuna Award (2020)

With 15 medals, the Indian boxing contingent achieved their best-ever show at the ASBC Asian Boxing Championships held in the UAE.

• The 19-member Indian contingent concluded the campaign with the highest-ever 15 medals including 2 gold, 5 silver and 8 bronze.
• All the boxers of the 10-member Indian women's team returned with a medal at the championships which were jointly hosted by the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) and UAE Boxing Federation.

Gold-medallists

• Sanjeet Singh: Men's boxer Sanjeet Singh (91kg) won a gold medal against the Rio Olympic silver medallist Kazkhak boxer and three-time Asian champion Vassiliy Levit.
• Pooja Rani: In the women's section, Pooja Rani (75kg) clinched her second successive gold medal in the championship after outpunching in-form Mavluda Movlonova of Uzbekistan. Pooja had won a gold medal in 2019 in the 81 kg category.

Silver-medallists

• Amit Panghal and Shiva Thapa: Olympic-bound boxers Amit Panghal (52kg) and Shiva Thapa (64kg) ended their campaign with silver after suffering defeats in their respective finals matches.
• Mary Kom: Five-time Asian Championships gold medallist Mary Kom (51kg) settled with a silver medal. Mary Kom - London Olympics bronze-medallist - lost to the two-time world champion Nazym Kyzaibay of Kazakhstan.
• Lalbuatsaihi (64kg) suffered a 2-3 defeat against Milana Safronova of Kazakhstan to win a silver medal in her maiden outing at the Championships.
• Anupama (+81kg) also grabbed a silver medal as she lost to Lazzat Kungeibayeva of Kazakhstan 2-3 in yet another nail-biting final.

Bronze-medallists

• Vikas Krishan (69kg) and Varinder Singh (60kg) secured bronze medals in the men's section after losing their semi-final matches.
• In the Women’s category, Simranjit Kaur (60kg), Lovlina Borgohain (69kg), Jaismine (57kg), Sakshi Chaudhary (54kg), Monika (48kg) and Saweety (81kg) secured bronze medals.

• Vijender Singh's suffered 1st defeat of his professional boxing career as Russia's Artysh Lopsan ended his 12 bouts undefeated streak on 19th March 2021 via a technical knockout in the "Battle on Ship" in Goa.
• Since turning professional in 2015, the 2008 Beijing Olympic bronze medallist had not lost a single bout.
• The bout was contested on the top of a cruise ship called "Majestic Pride Casino Ship", over the Mandovi River.

• Indian boxers finished the Cologne World Cup in Germany with nine medals: three gold, two silver and four bronze medals.
• Gold:AmitPanghal (men's 52kg), SimranjitKaur (women's 60kg) and ManishaMoun (women's 57kg).
• Silver:SakshiChoudhary(women’s 57kg), Satish Kumar (men’s +91kg)
• Silver: Sonia Lather (women's 57kg), Pooja Rani (women's 75kg) GauravSolanki (men's 57kg) and Mohamed Hussamudin (men's 57kg)

• The International Boxing Association (AIBA), Headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland has released the world rankings 2020 for women’s and men’s boxing.
• Indian amateur boxer & World championships silver medallist Amit Panghal has been ranked first in the world ranking of main elites of 52 kg weight category and Manju Rani has got the second place in women’s rankings in 48 kg.