Russian broadcasters were poised to capture the moment when the country’s national anthem was ringing out at the International Boxing Association (IBA) Women’s World Championships here.

A crowd of Russian fans clutching the nation’s flag were ready to sing along to the music of Alexander Alexandrov and lyrics of Sergei Mikhaikov.

IBA President Umar Kremlev was also awaiting the anthem of his home country to fill the K.D. Jadhav Indoor Hall in New Delhi after his organisation controversially allowed for it to be played and Russian boxers to fight under their national flag.

It was the moment Russia had been eagerly anticipating with Anastasiia Demurchian standing at the top of the podium following her victory in the light middleweight final.

However, the Tchaikovsky masterpiece was performed instead, leaving Russians aghast as fans tried to drown it out by singing the national anthem - and continued to do so for several minutes after it had finished.

For those unaware of the blunder and starting to leave at the end of the medal ceremony, the stadium announcer came on to the loud speakers apologising profusely for the mistake and pleading with them to retake their seats.

Demurchian was then brought back on to the stage before standing alone on the podium as the correct anthem was performed.

With the majority of fans gone by this time, the Russian fans gathered in front of the stage to show their support to Demurchian in what had become a farcical situation that left organisers and the IBA red-faced.

Russia’s official state news agency TASS described the moment as a "scandal", while Russian head coach Albert Mutalibov said the anthem error had "spoiled the mood".

"I don’t know how it happened," Mutalibov told TASS.

"I think that they got out of the habit, just a misunderstanding."

It later emerged that the Russian coaches had already corrected the Indian organisers when they played them Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No.1 to ensure they got it right.

An inquest has now begun to find out how such an mistake had been made with the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) refusing to accept responsibility and insisting that the IBA events team was "in charge of the entire medal ceremony".

If it was the IBA’s fault what a huge embarrassment for the International Federation and, especially Kremlev.

According to the BFI, the IBA launched an investigation last night to get to the bottom of the matter.

From election controversy to an ongoing war of words with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), there is never a dull moment covering the IBA and this year’s Women’s World Championships proved just that.

Even before action was underway, 11 countries, including the United States, Britain and Ukraine, withdrew from the tournament over the presence of Russian and Belarusian boxers that had been allowed to participate contrary to IOC recommendations.

The flags of both Russia and Belarus were paraded on the stage at the Opening Ceremony before the night took another twist when Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin arrived at the venue before sitting down next to Kremlev.

If the flags weren’t enough to catch the attention of the IOC, Matytsin’s appearance certainly would have done.

Kremlev then fired a shot at Boris van der Vorst when he helped Dutch boxer Megan de Cler to compete at the Women’s World Championships.

With the Dutch Boxing Federation among the governing bodies that withdrew from the event, de Cler arrived on stage at the Opening Ceremony under an IBA flag - a move which provoked an angry response from van der Vorst.

The flag controversies continued when the Indian organisers refused to allow Donjeta Sadiku to participate unless she fought under a neutral banner due to the country’s failure to recognise Kosovo’s independence.

Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani claimed the decision to prevent Sadiku from representing her nation was a "blatant violation of international sporting standards", with the conditions for her to fight described as "discriminatory" by the Kosovo Olympic Committee.

Despite calls from leading Kosovar officials and a video message from Sadiku urging the Indian Government to reconsider, it all sadly fell on deaf ears.

The IBA stressed that it "always stands for the athletes’ right to represent their national symbols", insisting that sport should be "without borders and out of politics".

But this was not the first time this has happened with Sadiku denied a visa when the Women’s World Championships were held in New Delhi in 2018.

The Kosovo team was also refused entry to the 2021 Men’s World Championships held in Belgrade which led the IOC to accuse the IBA of failing to conduct "necessary due diligence" on awarding the event to the Serbian capital.

New Delhi secured the hosting rights last November yet the same issues surrounding Kosovo’s participation reared their head again.

The re-introduction of the bout review with a more efficient system appeared to be largely well received by those participating at the Women’s World Championships.

But referees and judges were caught up in the ongoing row between the IOC and the IBA when they received a strongly-worded letter on the first day of competition.

The IBA warned technical officials that they faced possibly disciplinary action if they took part in a boxing tournament run by the IOC before and during next year’s Olympics in Paris.

It put them in a "very uncomfortable" position, according to the International Federation for Sports Officials which claimed that, by issuing the warning, the IBA had "declared war on the IOC".

Even on the eve of the final night of competition after the Russian anthem blunder, there was shock when Imane Khelif of Algeria and Lin Yu-ting of Chinese Taipei were disqualified after failing to meet eligibility criteria.

Khelif was due to take on Yang Liu of China in the welterweight final only to be excluded from the event.

The 23-year-old claimed that she had been told that she had "characteristics" that prevented her from fighting against women.

Lin, a double world champion, had been expected to pick up a featherweight bronze medal only to be axed from the event.

Speaking to TASS, Kremlev said: "According to the results of DNA tests, we identified a number of athletes who tried to decide their colleagues and pretended to be women.

"Based on the results of the tests, it was proved that they have XY chromosomes.

"Such athletes were excluded from the competition."

India will no doubt look back on the event with great fondness having topped the medal table with gold medals for Nitu, Saweety, Nikhat Zareen and Lovlina Borgohain.

Australia are also another success story as they enjoyed their best-ever performance courtesy of two silvers and one bronze.

However, this Women’s World Championships was overshadowed by the controversies and the failure to play the correct anthem for Russia.