LIVERPOOL, UK — Minakshi Hooda is the fourth Indian boxer to guarantee a medal for her country at the World Boxing Championships in Liverpool. In the non-Olympic 48kg division, the tall Indian boxer put up a great show to beat England’s U-19 world champion Alice Pumphrey by majority decision in their quarterfinal round on Friday.
Minakshi’s plan of boxing from the back foot and using her long reach to her advantage worked really well. She hit her opponent with clean, straight shots and counter-attacked with precision, leaving them with little options. With this win, she joins the women’s team with Jaismine Lamboria (57kg), Pooja Rani (80kg), and Nupur Sheoran (80+kg), all of whom have already made it to the podium. In the semifinals, Minakshi will play Lutsaikhany Altantsetseg of Mongolia, who won a silver medal in 2023.
Men’s Team Has a Disappointing Season
The women’s team is still doing well, while the men’s squad ended its championship season on a low note. Jadumani Singh Mandengbam was the last man standing, however he lost to Sanzhar Tashkenbay of Kazakhstan, the reigning world champion, in the men’s 50kg quarterfinal by a score of 0-4.
From the opening, Jadumani, a tough boxer from Manipur, fought hard, charging forward and trapping the Kazakh. Tashkenbay, on the other hand, was able to win the first round by landing accurate punches and using his experience. He is a two-time Asian medalist. Even though Jadumani kept pushing, Tashkenbay’s smooth defense and better ring skills made him the clear winner of the second round. The Indian also lost a point for holding too much. Jadumani came out blazing in the last round, hitting stinging right hooks, but it was too little, too late.
The Indian men’s team, which had 10 players, didn’t win a single medal for the first time since the 2013 event when Jadumani left. India won three bronze medals at the last World Championships in Tashkent in 2023, which is very different from this performance.