Golden double for Jaismine and Minakshi at World Boxing C'ships; India sign off with 4 medals
Liverpool, Sep 14 (PTI): Jaismine Lamboria and Minakshi Hooda cemented their place in Indian boxing history here, clinching World Championship titles with gritty wins as the country capped off its best-ever campaign in the women's section on foreign soil.
Jaismine outclassed Paris Olympics silver medallist Julia Szeremeta of Poland in the 57kg summit clash late on Saturday night, prevailing 4-1 on the judges' scorecards (30-27, 29-28, 30-27, 28-29, 29-28) to end her stupendous campaign with a golden flourish.
"I have no words to describe how I am feeling," Jaismine told PTI.
"I had got out in the quarterfinals in the previous two Worlds, but I got the boost from the World Cup win and I decided I want to win one-sided matches. I just concentrated on my strategy and game."
Debutant Minakshi followed suit a day later on Sunday, out-punching Paris Olympics bronze medallist Nazym Kyzaibay of Kazakhstan by the same margin in the 48kg final to exact revenge for her World Cup loss in July.
Adding to the glory were Nupur Sheoran (80+kg) and the seasoned Pooja Rani (80kg), who signed off with silver and bronze medals respectively, in non-Olympic weight categories.
India thus ended with a haul of four medals, the best-ever in an overseas edition.
With their victories, Jaismine and Minakshi joined an illustrious list of Indian world champions featuring six-time winner Mary Kom, two-time champion Nikhat Zareen, Sarita Devi, Jenny RL, Lekha KC, Nitu Ghanghas, Lovlina Borgohain and Saweety Boora.
Jaismine shines bright
Competing in her third World Championships, the 24-year-old Jaismine grew steadily into the bout. After a relatively sedate start where both pugilists sized each other up, it was Szeremeta who drew first blood, prodded into action by the referee.
The much shorter Pole, who had lost the Olympic final to gender-row boxer Lin Yu-ting, was fast and precise, using defensive manoeuvres to dart in and out. She negotiated Jaismine's long reach to win the opening round 3-2.
But the Indian came roaring back in the second. Adjusting her rhythm, she began controlling the distance, evading Szeremeta's advances, and unleashing crisp combinations that swayed all the judges in her favour.
Jaismine employed the jab with authority while defending stoutly.
When the final verdict was announced, the usually serene Jaismine let out a brief yell, raising her hand before graciously embracing her crestfallen opponent. At the medal ceremony, her eyes glistened as the Indian national anthem reverberated through the arena.
Her's is the only medal that came in Olympic weight category.
Minakshi packs a punch
In her final bout, Minakshi made the most of her physical advantage, using her long reach to pepper Nazym Kyzaibay with sharp shots and keep the multiple World Championships medallist at bay.
The 24-year-old from Rurki looked composed on the back foot, landing clean straight punches, even as the more experienced 31-year-old Kazakh pressed forward with aggression.
After dropping the opening round, Kyzaibay came out firing in the second, resorting to body blows and even pinning Minakshi to the ropes to edge the round 3-2.
But Minakshi was quick to respond. Sensing the shift, she raised her aggression in the third, lunging forward with authority and taking the fight to her seasoned opponent.
Nupur walks away with silver
Nupur walked away with silver after a narrow 2-3 defeat to Poland's technically astute Agata Kaczmarska.
Despite enjoying a substantial height advantage, Nupur could not impose herself on the contest. She started brightly but Kaczmarska countered with relentless aggression, weaving through her reach and landing body blows that wore the Indian down.
As the bout progressed, Nupur grew hesitant to throw punches. The defining moment of the bout came in the final round when the Pole unleashed a stunning uppercut, enough to tip the verdict 3-2 in her favour.
Pooja signs off with bronze
Pooja signed off with a bronze medal after going down to local favourite Emily Asquith by a 1-4 split verdict in the 80kg semifinals.
Pooja began on the front foot, leading after the first round with her measured combinations. But Asquith adapted swiftly, changing her game plan to negate the 34-year-old's rhythm.
The local star pressed forward with sharper counters and cleaner execution, reversing the tide of the contest.
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Single higher education regulator bill tabled in LS; Oppn flags ‘centralisation,' JPC likely
New Delhi: A bill to set up a 13-member body to regulate institutions of higher education was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan introduced the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, which seeks to establish an overarching higher education commission along with three councils for regulation, accreditation, and ensuring academic standards for universities and higher education institutions in India.
Meanwhile, the move drew strong opposition, with members warning that it could weaken institutional autonomy and result in excessive centralisation of higher education in India.
The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025, earlier known as the Higher Education Council of India (HECI) Bill, has been introduced in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
The proposed legislation seeks to merge three existing regulatory bodies, the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), into a single unified body called the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan.
At present, the UGC regulates non-technical higher education institutions, the AICTE oversees technical education, and the NCTE governs teacher education in India.
Under the proposed framework, the new commission will function through three separate councils responsible for regulation, accreditation, and the maintenance of academic standards across universities and higher education institutions in the country.
According to the Bill, the present challenges faced by higher educational institutions due to the multiplicity of regulators having non-harmonised regulatory approval protocols will be done away with.
The higher education commission, which will be headed by a chairperson appointed by the President of India, will cover all central universities and colleges under it, institutes of national importance functioning under the administrative purview of the Ministry of Education, including IITs, NITs, IISc, IISERs, IIMs, and IIITs.
At present, IITs and IIMs are not regulated by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
Government to refer bill to JPC; Oppn slams it
The government has expressed its willingness to refer it to a joint committee after several members of the Lok Sabha expressed strong opposition to the Bill, stating that they were not given time to study its provisions.
Responding to the opposition, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said the government intends to refer the Bill to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for detailed examination.
Congress Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari warned that the Bill could result in “excessive centralisation” of higher education. He argued that the proposed law violates the constitutional division of legislative powers between the Union and the states.
According to him, the Bill goes beyond setting academic standards and intrudes into areas such as administration, affiliation, and the establishment and closure of university campuses. These matters, he said, fall under Entry 25 of the Concurrent List and Entry 32 of the State List, which cover the incorporation and regulation of state universities.
Tewari further stated that the Bill suffers from “excessive delegation of legislative power” to the proposed commission. He pointed out that crucial aspects such as accreditation frameworks, degree-granting powers, penalties, institutional autonomy, and even the supersession of institutions are left to be decided through rules, regulations, and executive directions. He argued that this amounts to a violation of established constitutional principles governing delegated legislation.
Under the Bill, the regulatory council will have the power to impose heavy penalties on higher education institutions for violating provisions of the Act or related rules. Penalties range from ₹10 lakh to ₹75 lakh for repeated violations, while establishing an institution without approval from the commission or the state government could attract a fine of up to ₹2 crore.
Concerns were also raised by members from southern states over the Hindi nomenclature of the Bill. N.K. Premachandran, an MP from the Revolutionary Socialist Party representing Kollam in Kerala, said even the name of the Bill was difficult to pronounce.
He pointed out that under Article 348 of the Constitution, the text of any Bill introduced in Parliament must be in English unless Parliament decides otherwise.
DMK MP T.M. Selvaganapathy also criticised the government for naming laws and schemes only in Hindi. He said the Constitution clearly mandates that the nomenclature of a Bill should be in English so that citizens across the country can understand its intent.
Congress MP S. Jothimani from Tamil Nadu’s Karur constituency described the Bill as another attempt to impose Hindi and termed it “an attack on federalism.”
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