Railways crowned champions at 6th Elite Women's National Boxing Championship

28 December 2022

At the 6th Elite Women's National Boxing Championships on Monday, Lovlina Borgohain, who won bronze at the Tokyo Olympics, and Nikhat Zareen, the current world champion, lived up to their reputations as favourites. Railways, which fielded ten athletes, won the team competition with ten medals.

While Borgohain of Assam defeated Arundhati Choudhary of the Services Sports Control Board (SSCB) by a score of 5-0 in the 75 kg final, Zareen of Telangana had to overcome a strong challenge from RSPB's Anamika to win the 50 kg gold medal match. The 26-year-old Telangana boxer eventually won the bout 4-1 to successfully defend her title.

In the presence of representatives from the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) and Sports Minister Anurag Singh Thakur, athletes collected their medals.

Manju Rani's leadership of the RSPB's victory on the last day was another highlight of the day. The 48kg final saw the 2019 World Championships silver medalist defeat Tamil Nadu's S Kalaivani 5-0 to give RSPB its maiden gold. The other gold medalists for RSPB were Shiksha (54 kg), Poonam (60 kg), Shashi Chopra (63 kg), and Nupur (+81 kg), who also won three silver and two bronze medals.

With one gold, two silver, and five bronze medals, Madhya Pradesh took second place, followed by Haryana with two gold and two bronze.

Sanamacha Thokchom Chanu, a teenage boxer from Manipur who earned a gold medal at the 2021 Youth World Championships, also put on a strong performance to win the 70kg title by defeating Shruti Yadav of Madhya Pradesh 3-2 in the nail-biting final.

At the prestigious competition, which had 302 boxers competing in 12 divisions, Haryana's Manisha (57kg) and Saweety (81kg), SSCB's Sakshi (52kg), and Madhya Pradesh's Manju Bamboria (66kg) also won gold medals in their respective weight classes.

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