Minakshi, Jaismine punch gold at World boxing championships

Minakshi Hooda and Jaismine Lamboria, both aged 24, upset two Paris Olympics medallists and top seeds in their respective weight classes to emerge as champions in the World boxing championships in Liverpool.

Rurki girl Minakshi got past Kazakh Paris Olympics bronze medallist Nazym Kyzaibay 4-1 in the women’s 48kg final on Sunday (September 14, 2025), while Bhiwani’s Jaismine rallied to stun Polish Olympics silver medallist Julia Szeremeta 4-1 in the 57kg summit clash late on Saturday (September 13, 2025) night.

Indian women finished with two gold, a silver and a bronze, while the men drew a blank.

The taller Minakshi’s plan to move in and out to land her punches worked well as she stayed 4-1 up in the opening round. Nazym stepped up attack by closing the gap and had a 3-2 edge in the second round.

However, Minakshi, an Asian silver medallist in 52kg in 2022, found the target from a distance to negate the effect of some solid blows from the Kazakh and avenged her defeat at the Astana World Boxing Cup in July.

Olympian Jaismine, a lanky southpaw who claimed a gold in Astana, showed her effortless footwork and counter-attacks from a long range, whereas Julia landed body punches to take the first round 3-2.

Bobbing and weaving nicely, Julia found ways to hit the target. In reply, a patient Jaismine maintained her composure, stepped back beautifully and connected her counters to bounce back in the evenly-contested second round with a 5-0 verdict.

In the crucial final period, Jaismine grew in confidence to exhibit her evasive skills against an attacking Julia. The Indian also delivered her blows well to walk away as the winner.

Nupur lost to Poland’s Agata Kaczmarska 3-2 in a hard-fought +80kg title clash to take silver.

Pooja Rani (80kg) won the first round before falling to England’s Emily Asquith 4-1 in the semifinals and bagged bronze.