New Delhi is preparing to play host to IBA’s flagship event which is due to officially open tomorrow before competition is scheduled to run from Thursday (March 16) to March 26 at the at the 6,000-seater K.D. Jadhav Indoor Hall.

Build-up to the World Championships has been marred by a series of withdrawals from national governing bodies over the participation of Russian and Belarusian boxers.

The United States, Britain and Ukraine are among a number of National Federations that chose to boycott the event in protest of Russia and Belarus' presence in the Indian capital.

Athletes from Russia and Belarus had been barred in response to the war in Ukraine until the IBA decided to lift the ban, allowing them to compete under their national flag in contrary to the IOC's recommendations.

Russia are set to make their first appearance since the 2019 edition where they topped the medals table.

Among Russia’s 12-strong squad includes Ekaterina Paltseva, a 2019 world bronze medallist, and Yulia Chumgalakova, a 2019 European champion.

The IBA has revealed that more than 300 athletes from 65 countries are poised to participate at the Women’s World Championships.

Several of those are understood to come from boycotting nations after the IBA pledged to provide them with financial assistance in a bid to ensure that they are not liable to "any political games".

It was announced by the IBA on Sunday (March 12) that the IOC would be sending a team to New Delhi to observe the Women’s World Championships.

The IOC monitoring team is expected to be led by PrincewaterhouseCoopers which will work in parallel with the IBA and its McLaren Independent Investigation Team, led by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren responsible for background checking competition officials.

The IBA has been suspended by the IOC since 2019 because of continuing concerns related to governance, financial transparency and sustainability, and the integrity of its refereeing and judging processes.

It was not involved in the running of the boxing tournament at Tokyo 2020 and has been stripped of the rights for Paris 2024 as well, while boxing remains off the initial programme for Los Angeles 2028.

The IBA said it is "confident that the PwC team will see first-hand IBA's best practices regarding technical and competitions rules, specifically its heralded bout review process", and hopes it can lead to its reinstatement by the IOC.

"We established a prize money fund to ensure athletes' well-being and secured the fairest and most transparent event for our boxers, so the strongest could win," said Kremlev.

"Thanks to Professor McLaren's team and bout review rule, there will be no doubts about the integrity of our competitions."

Boxers are set to battle it out over minimum weight, light flyweight, flyweight, bantamweight, featherweight, lightweight, light welterweight, welterweight, light middleweight, middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight categories.

Preliminary rounds and semi-finals are scheduled to run until March 23 with the finals poised to be held on March 25 and 26.

Gold medallists in all 12 categories are in line to receive $100,000 (£83,235/€94,371) while silver medallists will earn $50,000 (£41,617/€47185) and bronze winners will get $25,000 (£20,808/€23,592) as part of a lucrative purse of $2.4 million (£1.9 million/€2.2 million) for the event.

World and Olympic champion Estelle Mossely of France is set to be among the star names determined to secure the top prize.

"First and foremost, this comeback is a pleasure for me," said Mossely.

"My latest World Boxing Championships happened in 2016, and I earned a gold medal there.

"I see a lot of evolution in event organisation and level of women's boxing ever since.

"I am happy that IBA gives a chance to professional athletes to compete, and I took an opportunity as I have a dream to come back to the Olympic ring, and the World Championships is the biggest step for that."

Kremlev has described India as the "capital of women’s boxing" having previously staged the Women’s World Championships in 2006 and 2018.

"The fact that it's the third major women's event in our country is a strong testimony that India is a real power in boxing," added Ajay Singh, head of the Boxing Federation of India.

"Among 1.3 billion people in our country, there are several thousands of those who practice boxing.

"Our goal is to increase this number and encourage people to take up the sport.

"Hosting major events is the best that we can do for it, as kids will come, watch and inspire."