India to host women’s World Boxing Championship next year: BFI

India will host the women’s world boxing championships in 2023 in New Delhi, two years after the country was stripped of the hosting rights of men’s event for not paying the requisite fee to the global governing body.

India has never conducted the men’s world championship but it will be the third time that the elite women’s competition will be held in the country having conducted the championships in 2006 and 2018 in New Delhi.

“We have got the hosting rights of women’s world championship and are looking to host the event around the end of March and first week of April,” Boxing Federation of India (BFI) Secretary General Hemanta Kalita told PTI.

International Boxing Association (IBA) President Umar Kremlev is on his maiden visit to the country and the dates of the marquee event will be finalised during the trip.

Dates not finalised

“The dates of the event are yet to be finalised. We will sit down with the IBA president and reach an agreement during his trip,” Mr. Kalita added.

The tournament is likely to be held at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.

The hosting rights of the event to India comes as a significant development as BFI had lost the hosting rights of the 2021 event to Serbia after failing to pay the host fee, prompting the International Boxing Association, then known as (AIBA), to terminate its agreement.

At the last edition of the women’s event in Turkey, India had returned with a haul of three medals, including Nikhat Zareen’s gold in the flyweight category.

Mr. Kremlev had recently announced that the men’s world championship, to be held in Tashkent next year in May, will see the prize money go double from the previous edition.

It is to be seen if the world body announces the same for the women’s event.