Anastasiia Demurchian stands alone on the podium as Russia's national anthem is played following a mix-up ©IBA

The wrong anthem was played for Russia after Anastasiia Demurchian captured the light middleweight title at the International Boxing Association (IBA) Women's World Championships here.

Demurchian arrived to collect her gold medal at the K.D. Jadhav Indoor Hall in New Delhi only for Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 to be played - instead of Russia's national anthem - at the medal ceremony.

The stadium announcer apologised for the mistake before Demurchian was brought back on to the stage after the majority of fans had left and stood alone on the podium as Russia's national anthem was played.

Russian boxers returned to the Women's World Championships after the IBA, led by Russian official Umar Kremlev, lifted its restrictions last October, allowing them to compete under their national flag and anthem.

insidethegames has been informed that the Russian coaches had already corrected organisers before the start of today's competition when they played them Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1, to ensure they performed the right anthem at the ceremony.

A spokesperson for the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) told insidethegames that it would cooperate into an IBA-led investigation into the matter.


"The Local Organising Committee took the anthem from the Russian coach, checked it and handed it over to the IBA events team, who are in charge of the entire medal ceremony," the BFI spokesperson said. 

"There was a meeting regarding this and IBA is doing its own investigation and BFI will fully cooperate with the process," said a BFI spokesperson.

Russian head coach Albert Mutalibov told Russia's official state news agency TASS that he was frustrated by the anthem blunder.

"The incident [with the anthem] spoiled the mood, because I wanted the awards ceremony to go like everyone else, so that there would be no such mistakes,” said Mutalibov. 

"I don’t know how it happened, I think that they got him out of habit. just a misunderstanding. 

"Now they outplayed and awarded the athlete again. 

"We got our bearings - and it's good."

Anastasiia Demurchian defeated Australia's Kaye Scott in the light middleweight final ©Russian Boxing Federation
Anastasiia Demurchian defeated Australia's Kaye Scott in the light middleweight final ©Russian Boxing Federation

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) approved the use of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 for the Russian team during medal ceremonies at the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics and the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics to replace the banned national anthem.

Russia competed as "ROC" - standing for Russian Olympic Committee - at the Games as part of punishments for the "cover-up of the cover-up" of the manipulation of data at the Moscow Laboratory.

The country's name, anthem and flag has also been banned under the sanctions for the state-sponsored doping scheme operated by Russian officials at major events including the Olympics and Paralympics.

Russian athletes are largely banned from global sport due to the IOC's recommendations in response to the war in Ukraine but the IBA controversially ended the ban last October - a decision which has resulted in several countries boycotting the Women's World Championships.

A total of 12 boxers were sent by the Russian Boxing Federation with only Nataliya Sychugova and Demurchian reaching the finals of the respective light welterweight and light middleweight divisions.

Demurchian secured gold following victory by unanimous decision against Australia's Kaye Scott, while Sychugova lost to China's Yang Chengyu.

insidethegames has contacted the IBA for comment.