By Admin 
Indian women boxers, led by star boxer Nikhat Zareen, won seven gold medals in the World Boxing Cup Finals on Thursday, while among the men boxers, Hitesh Gulia and Sachin Siwach also won the title.
Boxers from the host country won medals in all 20 weight categories which included nine gold, six silver and five bronze.
On Thursday, 15 boxers from India entered the ring, out of which in the women’s category, current world champion Jasmine Lamboria (57 kg) and Meenakshi Hooda (48 kg), Asian Games bronze medalist Preeti Pawar (54 kg), World Championship bronze medalist Parveen Hooda (60 kg), former youth world champion Arundhati Chaudhary (70 kg) and Nupur Sheoran (over 80 kg). Also won gold medal.
Jadumani Singh (50 kg), Abhinash Jamwal (65 kg), Pawan Bartwal (55 kg), Ankush Fungal (80 kg), Narendra Berwal (90 kg) and Pooja Rani (80 kg) won silver medals.
Earlier, Neeraj Phogat (65 kg), Sweety (75 kg), Sumit Kundu (75 kg), Jugnu (85 kg) and Naveen (90 kg) won bronze medals.
Many top boxers were missing from the tournament. Strong nations like Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan sent third-rate teams but the WBC Finals proved valuable for returning Indian boxers like Parveen, Preeti and Arundhati who used it to gain momentum and confidence.
Jasmine achieved one of India’s biggest wins in the competition. She defeated Paris Olympics medalist Wu Shih Yi 4-1 in a thrilling final.
Preeti, who had already defeated the current world champion in the tournament, registered another brilliant performance against Italy’s World Championship medalist Sirine Charrabi.
Two-time world champion Nikhat (50 kg) registered a unanimous 5-0 victory over Guo Yi Xuan of Chinese Taipei. Parveen registered a 3-2 win over Ayaka Taguchi of Japan while Arundhati defeated Aziza Zokirova of Uzbekistan 5-0. Meenakshi Hooda won 5-0 over current Asian champion Farjona Fojilova.
In the men’s category, Sachin defeated Munarbek Ulu Seytbek of Kyrgyzstan 5-0 while Hitesh, after a slow start, defeated Nurbek Mursal of Kazakhstan 3-2 in a thrilling match.
There were indications of fresh friction within the Indian Boxing Federation during its special general meeting (SGM) during the tournament, with some members of the state units expressing disagreement over its functioning and claiming to bring a ‘no-confidence motion’ against president Ajay Singh.
However, Ajay Singh rejected these claims and said that many of the same members also signed a document expressing confidence in him.
Ajay Singh said, “Today there was an SGM and unfortunately a no-confidence motion was brought with 28 signatures. But the claim that it came from three-fourths of the members is absolutely false. He said, “There are not many signatory members and the same members have also signed another petition expressing confidence in me and that too in large numbers.”
Referring to issues like changes in the BFI constitution, 28 members have signed a document which is with PTI. It has been claimed that Ajay Singh is “repeatedly misusing his authority”.