Shaheed Vijay Singh – Ahead of a busy 2026 calendar comprising the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games, Indian boxers will look to accumulate valuable ranking points as the World Boxing Cup Final (WBCF) gets underway on Sunday at the Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Indoor Stadium here, where the field has been emptied due to last-minute withdrawal of players. The points accumulated in the year-end event will help the boxers, who will carry 75% of this year’s accumulation to 2026, improve their rankings and get better seedings in competitions. The gold medal winner will get 300 points, the silver medal winner will get 200 and the bronze medal winner will get 150 points.

Nevertheless, the WBCF will feature top names in a field of more than 120 boxers from 17 countries, including world champions Agata Kaczmarska (80kg) of Poland and Huang Hsiao Wen (54kg) of Taiwan and Paris Olympics medalist Wu Shih-Yi and World Boxing Cup gold medalist Atrativo Salvatore of Italy. India have fielded a strong women’s squad, including world champions Meenakshi Hooda (48kg) and Jasmine Lambouria (57kg), former world champions Nikhat Zareen (51kg) and Sweety Boora (75kg), current silver medalist Nupur Sheoran (80+kg) and bronze medalist Pooja Rani (80kg). Eight Indian women – including Pooja (who entered the final with a bye) and Parveen Hooda (who is making a comeback after serving suspension due to failure to place in the 60kg) – are starting in the medal round.

Meenakshi (48 kg) and Preeti Pawar (54 kg) started their campaign from the quarter-finals. “After the 2023 World Championships, I want to make my first home international tournament a memorable one,” Nikhat said. Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist Lovlina Borgohain opted to skip the event to protect her nose after some treatment.

Among men, Sachin Siwach (60 kg), Avinash Jamwal (65 kg) and Jugnu (85 kg) have assured themselves of medals from the semi-finals. Working on his movements and jabs, Asian Games medalist Narendra Berwal (90+kg) will look to test himself.