World Boxing Championships 2025: Bartwal begins with a victory over Brazilian Trindade
World Boxing Championships 2025: Bartwal begins with a victory over Brazilian Trindade
Pawan Bartwal gave a strong performance to beat Brazilian Michael Douglas Da Silva Trindade 3-2 in an intensely-fought opening round men’s 55kg contest on the inaugural day of the World Boxing Championships, being organised under the banner of World Boxing for the first time, in Liverpool on Thursday.
Bartwal will meet Asian Games bantamweight gold medallist and 2019 featherweight champion Mirazizbek Mirzakhalilov of Uzbekistan in the second round on Sunday.
In a fast exchange of punches, Bartwal relied on his accurate shots to take a 3-2 lead in the first three minutes despite Trindade executing some quick combinations well.
The Brazilian raised the tempo with a more attacking approach and showcased his range, including jabs, crosses, hooks and uppercuts, to catch up. Bartwal withstood the pressure with his solid and well-directed blows in the action-packed second round after which the two stood locked at 2-2.
In the decisive third round, Trindade switched stances and threw a barrage of punches on Bartwal but the Indian remained unruffled and landed some clean punches. In the final minute, Bartwal banked on his endurance and connected several quality shots to impress four of the five the judges.
“Pawan relied on his will power to win and gave it his all in such a tough fight. Being from the armed forces, he is not the one to go on the back foot. He will meet another strong opponent in his next bout,” said men’s head coach Dharmendra Yadav on the first bout by an Indian in the elite event.
Sakshi, a World Boxing Cup gold medallist, advanced to the women’s 54kg pre-quarterfinals with a Referee Stops Contest (RSC) win against Ukraine’s Viktoriia Shkeul, who was making her senior debut.
Making full use of her height advantage, the Indian dominated with a flurry of combinations, compelling the referee to issue two standing counts before halting the contest in the second round.
The Indian boxers have been handed a decent draw with medal contender Hitesh Gulia (70kg), Abhinash Jamwal (65kg), two-time champion Nikhat Zareen (51kg) and Olympic bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain (70kg) avoiding tricky opponents early in the competition.
While Gulia, Jamwal, Lovlina have a bye in the opening round, Nikhat will take on Jennifer Lozana of USA.
Gulia and Jamwal have been placed in different halves of the draw from their closest challengers Kainan Oliveira and Yuri Falcao (both from Brazil).
Among the other medal contenders in fray for India, Commonwealth Games medallist Jaismine Lamboria (57kg) will have a tough second round battle against 2023 Pan American Games champion Brazil’s Jucielen Cerqueira Romeu if she gets past Daria-Olha Hutarina of Ukraine in the opening round.
Meenakshi Hooda (48kg), Pooja Rani (80kg), Nupur Sheoran (80+kg), Jadumani Singh Mandengbam (50kg), Sachin Siwach (60kg), Lakshya Chahar (80kg) and Jugnoo Ahlawat (85kg) are the other boxers who have received first round byes.
(With inputs from PTI)
Published on Sep 04, 2025
