Indian women boxer Saweety Boora - who hails from Haryana - defeated China's Lina Wang by a split decision (4-3) in 81 kg category final to script history as she won a gold medal in the ongoing IBA Women's World Boxing Championships 2023 at Indira Gandhi Sports Complex on Saturday, March 25. Boora, playing her 3rd Women's Boxing Championship, clinched gold to help India win their 12th gold medal in the history of the event. India will have two more finalists - Nikhat Zareen and Lovlina Borgohain - competing in their respective gold medal bouts on Sunday (March 26).
The opening round saw a lot of clinching between the two boxers but was eventually won by India's Saweety Boora 3-2 against the Chinese. Having the crowd and momentum in her favor, Saweety, after a lot of clinching, went on to beat her Chinese opponent in the second round as well, attaining a clear 3:2 win. Eventually the bout ended with Saweety being declared the winner 4-3.
Her win comes as a double delight for the Indian fanbase as earlier India's Neetu Dhanghas defeated Mongolian boxer Lutsekhan 5-0 in the final of the 48 kg category in the Women's Boxing Championship to clinch a historic gold medal. With this, Dhanghas became only the sixth Indian boxer (male or female) to become the world champion. Last year, the 22-year-old boxer had won gold in the same weight category at the Commonwealth Games.
Neetu and Sweety became the sixth and seventh Indian boxers, respectively, to win gold at the World Boxing Championships. Earlier, six-time world champion Mary Kom (2002, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2018), Sarita Devi (2006), Jenny RL (2006), Lekha Kaisi (2006) and Nikhat Zareen (2022) have brought glory to the nation.