India’s boxing campaign at the Asian Games 2026 gained momentum as Parveen Hooda and Ankush Panghal reached their respective finals, while Narender Berwal secured a bronze medal after losing his semifinal.
Parveen Hooda books place in gold-medal bout
Parveen defeated China’s Li Shu 5-0 in the women’s 65kg semifinal. After narrowly taking the opening round 3-2, she dominated the next two rounds with 5-0 scores to complete a unanimous victory.
The result puts Parveen into the Asian Games final, where she will face Chinese Taipei’s Chen Nien-chin for gold. It also marks an improvement on her bronze-medal finish at the previous Asian Games in Hangzhou.
Parveen’s earlier medal was subsequently withdrawn after the International Testing Agency suspended her for 22 months over a whereabouts failure.
She is now only the third Indian woman boxer to reach an Asian Games final, following MC Mary Kom, who won gold in 2014, and Lovlina Borgohain, who took silver at the previous edition.
Ankush Panghal stages major comeback
Ankush produced a strong comeback against Uzbekistan’s Fazliddin Erkinboev in the men’s 80kg semifinal. The Indian boxer lost the opening round 1-4 but responded by taking the second 3-2 before dominating the third 5-0.
He eventually won the bout 4-1 on a split decision, with four judges scoring the contest 29-28 in his favour. Erkinboev is the reigning world champion in the 75kg category.
The victory also makes Ankush the first Indian male boxer to reach an Asian Games final since Amit Panghal won gold in the 49kg category at the 2018 Jakarta Games.
Narender settles for bronze
Narender Berwal lost his men’s +90kg semifinal 0-5 to Kazakhstan’s reigning super heavyweight world champion Aibek Oralbay. Oralbay controlled all three rounds to secure a unanimous decision.
Narender therefore takes home bronze, adding another Asian Games medal after his bronze at Hangzhou.
India now have six boxing medals at the ongoing Asian Games, surpassing the five-medal tally from the previous edition.
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