The Russian team is led by Ekaterina Paltseva, the 2019 world gold medalist and 2018 European champion, who will contest the under-50 kilograms division.
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Russia has sent a team of 12 athletes to compete at the International Boxing Association (IBA) Women’s World Boxing Championships 2023 in New Delhi, India. This is the first time since 2019 that Russia is participating in the event, after being banned from last year’s edition due to IBA sanctions in response to the war in Ukraine. This year, there are no restrictions on Russian national symbols being worn and their anthem being played, as the IBA has lifted the ban, contrary to the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) recommendations.
However, this decision has resulted in many countries, including the United States, Britain, and Ukraine, boycotting the Women’s World Boxing Championships 2023, which is scheduled to run from March 16 to March 26. Despite this, relatives and fans of the Russian athletes turned out holding Russian flags and posters with words of support to send off the national team that flew from Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport yesterday, according to Russia’s official state news agency TASS.
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The Russian team is led by Ekaterina Paltseva, the 2019 world gold medalist and 2018 European champion, who will contest the under-50 kilograms division at the Women’s World Boxing Championships 2023. Russian Boxing Federation Secretary-General Tatyana Kiriyenko has high hopes for the team and expects them to achieve “two or three medals” at the World Championships. Yulia Chumgalakova, a 2019 European gold medalist, is set to represent Russia in the under-48kg division. She expressed her excitement at the opportunity to visit India and participate in the tournament, saying, “I have never been to India and I am very interested to see, to get to know this country.”
Lyudmila Vorontsova, the 2019 world silver medalist, and Karina Tazabekova, the 2019 European silver medalist, are also part of the team, competing in the respective under-57kg and under-54 kg divisions. Diana Pyatak, who is competing in her first World Championships, expressed her excitement at the opportunity, saying, “I am overwhelmed with emotions, but I try to put my energy in the right direction. I fly to India as confident as possible, the preparation was carried out in full, all the girls are ready, and we can only wait for our fights.”
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The IBA is the only governing body of an Olympic sport that has allowed Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete at the Women’s World Boxing Championships 2023 under their own flags. IBA President Umar Kremlev defended the decision, saying that the organization’s decision is in the interest of athletes, “We, as an international association, must protect each athlete. And we must understand that for athletes, the most important thing is when the anthem plays and when their country’s flag is raised.” Boxing remains off the initial program for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics, and the IOC warned last year that it could even be dropped from Paris 2024. The IBA has been suspended by the IOC since 2019 due to ongoing governance concerns.
Squad for Women’s World Boxing Championships 2023: Ekaterina Paltseva, Lyudmila Vorontsova, Karina Tazabekova, Anna Aedma, Nadezhda Golubeva, Natalia Sychugova, Azaliya Amineva, Anastasia Demurchyan, Anastasia Shamonova, Saltanat Medenova and Diana Pyatak.
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