Ten nations made their way into the finals of the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships 2025 in Niš, winning their semi-final bouts at the Čair Sports Center.

Amongst them were hosts Serbia and Uzbekistan, who made the final for the first time in their history.

It was an emotional day for Irish sisters Aoife and Lisa O’Rourke, who advanced to the finals, marking the first time two sisters had made it to the finals at the same IBA World Championships – and these victories did not come easily for the two from Castlerea, a town of less than 2,000 people.

Aoife O’Rourke was the first from the family to book their spot for gold, defeating Nikolina Gajic of Serbia in the 75kg weight category. The first round marginally went the way of the Irish boxer, who turned up the heat, knowing she would need to fully convince all judges. The tempo was turned up and O’Rourke frequently had Gajic on the ropes. To make matters worse for the Serbian, she was given a point deduction, followed by a standing count. Another standing count went against the home athlete in the third round, leading to the Irish boxer obtaining a unanimous decision win.

The world final will be a rematch of the European final from last year as she faces Russian Anastasiia Shamonova who defeated China’s Wang Lina to make into the gold-medal match. For that European title, Shamonova came up short against O’Rourke, with the Irish boxer winning by a split decision. Wang, the 2018 World champion, will make it onto the podium for a fourth title at this stage, settling for bronze.

Emotional O’Rourke hopes for more happy tears

To follow in her older sister’s footsteps was Lisa O’Rourke, who came through a tough 70kg semi-final with Natalya Bogdanova of Kazakhstan, coming from behind to score the victory. A strong opening round gave Bogdanova a unanimous verdict with the judges, before the 2022 World champion O’Rourke had the edge in the second round. With all to play for in the final three minutes, both boxers were all-out in their attack, the Irish boxer’s flow was often disrupted as her opponent tried to slow the contest down. A bout review determined O’Rourke was the winner by a 4-3 margin, sending her corner into a jubilant celebration.

After the bout, an emotional O’Rourke said: ‘She [Bogdanova] was a great opponent, and she did not make it easy. When I was down in the first round, I just knew I had to dig deep and listen to the coaches while trying to control my emotions.’

When speaking about her sister Aoife also making the final, Lisa said: ‘It’s massive to have her on the team with me, knowing she’s there in the final with me, it means the world to me. I look up to her usually and hopefully there will be more happy tears!’

Standing in the way of that second title will be European silver medallist Elena Gapeshina of Russia, who achieved a one-sided victory and was favored by all judges in all three rounds in her bout against Aryna Danilchyk of Belarus.

In the opening match of the day, Iuliia Chumgalakova of Russia defeated Farzona Fozilova from Uzbekistan to make the final of the 48kg tournament. An emotional Chumgalakova was victorious by a unanimous decision, realising she is one step closer to her dream of winning a World title, one year on from becoming European champion. Nazym Kyzaibay from Kazakhstan was the winner in the other semi-final by a unanimous decision over Hong Kyong Ryong of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Kyzaibay is hoping to win a third World title, last standing at the top of the podium in 2016.

Elusive gold medal still a possibility for Balkibekova

Kazakhstan’s Alua Balkibekova advanced to the 50kg final, and the 29-year-old could soon win that gold medal missing from her trophy cabinet. She defeated An Kum Byol of DPR Korea by a unanimous decision verdict, showing her quality throughout against a lively opponent. Standing in the way of that golden dream is China’s Hu Meiyi, who was tied with her opponent Sabina Bobokulova from Uzbekistan, and the latter had set a furious pace in the bout. The referee’s persistent warnings against the Uzbek led to a point deduction and the Chinese boxer went on to win on points.

Two hard-fought wins came the way of Türkiye’s Hatice Akbas and Widad Bertal of Morocco to set up an exciting 54kg final. 2022 World champion and Olympic silver medallist Akbas faced a difficult opponent in Natnicha Chongprongklang of Thailand. Akbas won the first round, but the Thai was deemed the better of the boxers in the second round. Through grit and determination, Akbas managed to win a close final round to progress by a split decision.

Bertal stopped Serbia’s golden girl, Sara Ćirković for a spot in the final, upsetting the crowd. The opening round was split between the pair, with a small advantage to the home favorite, and Bertal clawed back some points before the pair went toe-to-toe in a scrappy third round. When the Moroccan was deemed the winner by a split decision, she sprinted to her corner, jumping into her team’s arms in jubilation, having come through a testing contest against Serbia’s great hope for a World title. Ćirković was inconsolable in comparison.

Pang and Cakiroglu sees clash of champions at 52kg

Two World champions will meet in the 52kg final. It was third time lucky for the DPR Korea team, who saw their athlete Olympic bronze medallist and 2018 World champion Pang Chol Mi win in the semi-finals against Feruza Kazakova of Uzbekistan by a unanimous decision. 2022 World champion Buse Naz Cakiroglu of Türkiye was very impressive in her defeat of Dragana Jovanovic from Serbia. Cakiroglu took her trademarked calculated stance for the first two rounds, picking her opponent off with ease. In the third round, the Turkish boxer dropped the caution and went after her opponent, forcing a referee’s stoppage.

It took until the last of their six boxers for Serbia to claim a win today, as Andela Brankovic defeated Esra Yildiz Kahraman from Türkiye. Brankovic, who has impressed in the 57kg tournament, looked strong in her unanimous decision win over the Olympic bronze medallist – giving Serbia hope of that first World title. Punrawee Ruenros of Thailand is her final opponent. The Thai boxer faced a standing count at the end of the second round in her match with Cai Yan of China, meaning the third round would be winner-takes-all. Four of the five judges scored the fight with just one point’s difference between the fighters, going the way of Ruenros.

Nune Asatrian from Russia stormed into the 60kg final, defeating Miroslava Jedinakova from Slovakia by referee’s stoppage. Two standing counts in the first round showed who had the momentum early on and Asatrian claimed the win in the second round. The Russian meets Viktoriya Grafeyeva of Kazakhstan for the gold medal, who stopped Natalia Shadrina of Serbia in her bout. While the opening round was close, Grafeyeva started to move ahead on points and held on for a split decision victory.

Thailand’s Thananya Somnuek is into the 63kg final following her unanimous decision victory over Thi Linh Ha of Vietnam. Little separated the pair in round one, but the Vietnamese was on the receiving end of the referee’s count in the second round, giving Somnuek a clean sweep with the judges. It was no surprise to see the Thai top seed win by a unanimous decision in the end. Asian champion Aida Abikeyeva from Kazakhstan progressed by the same verdict over Elena Babicheva from Russia.

Confident Surmeneli in control in 66kg semi-finals

Turkish boxer Busenaz Surmeneli delivered one of the most dominant performances of the day in the 66kg weight category, easing to a unanimous decision victory over Anastasija Lukajic from Serbia. There was a confidence within the 2022 World champion, who seemed unfazed by her opponent and spent a sizeable portion of the match having fun. Surmeneli’s next foe will be Navbakhor Khamidova of Uzbekistan, who won one of the tightest semi-finals of the evening to become the first World finalist from her country. She scored better with judges in round one against Russian Albina Moldazhanova, but her opponent was slightly more favored in round two. Following a bout review, Khamidova edged out the Russian for the chance to fight for gold.

Russia’s Saltanat Medenova was dominant again in her 81kg semi-final against Hasnae Larti from Morocco. Medenova was close to winning by referee’s stoppage, but Larti saw the bout out. Instead, the Russian won unanimously with the judges. Busra Isildar of Türkiye defeated China’s Wang Xiaomeng in the other semi-final by a split decision, winning favor with the majority of judges.

Finally, Turkish boxer Elif Guneri’s hope for a gold ended, but she officially became a six-time World medallist, adding another bronze to her trophy cabinet after losing to Zhan Yilian of China by a unanimous decision in the +81kg weight category. Zhan’s final opponent will be Kazakhstan’s Yeldana Talipova, who defeated Daria Sazonova from Moldova.

IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships 2025 is live-streamed fully on the IBA YouTube channel. All draws, schedules and results are available on IBA website. Photos can be found on IBA Flickr channel.

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Media contacts:

Elena Sobol, Head of Communications and PR, International Boxing Association: elena.sobol@iba.sport

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