Indian boxing has barely had time to take a breath after its record-breaking Commonwealth Games campaign. Seven gold medals and three silvers in Glasgow have raised expectations, but the Asian Games are a different proposition altogether, and the Indian team knows it.
For the women’s team, there is an even bigger target. India have not had a women’s boxing gold at the Asian Games since MC Mary Kom won the 51kg title in 2014. There have been medals since then, including four in Hangzhou, but no one has managed to take that final step to the top of the podium.
The timing, though, is interesting. Five of the 11 boxers selected for Aichi-Nagoya won gold in Glasgow, while three more took silver. Preeti Pawar, Priya Ghanghas and Sakshi Chaudhary all came back with gold medals, while Lovlina Borgohain, Jadumani Singh and Narender Berwal finished with silver.
That Commonwealth Games run was India’s best-ever in boxing at the event. It also came with a warning. The Asian Games field is much deeper, with China, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan bringing boxers who regularly compete for world and Olympic medals.
Santiago Nieva is therefore not treating Glasgow as a guarantee of anything. The Indian head coach wants his boxers in the finals and believes they have the quality to challenge for gold, but he has also spoken about the small margins that decide bouts at this level.
There is plenty of reason to be optimistic. Preeti and Priya are reigning Asian champions, Lovlina is an Olympic bronze medallist and former world champion, and the likes of Sakshi, Sachin Siwach and Ankush Panghal arrive after winning Commonwealth Games gold.
For India, this is about taking the next step. The Commonwealth Games showed what this group can do. The Asian Games will show how that form holds up when the strongest teams in the continent stand across the ring.
INDIA’S FULL BOXING SQUAD
India will have 11 boxers in Aichi-Nagoya, with five women and six men.
Women
- Sakshi Chaudhary – 51kg: Commonwealth Games gold medallist in Glasgow and Asian Games debutant.
- Preeti Pawar – 54kg: Hangzhou bronze medallist, 2026 Asian champion and Commonwealth Games gold medallist.
- Priya Ghanghas – 60kg: 2026 Asian champion and Commonwealth Games gold medallist.
- Parveen Hooda – 65kg: Hangzhou bronze medallist who has moved up from 57kg.
- Lovlina Borgohain – 75kg: Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist, former world champion and Hangzhou silver medallist.
Men
- Jadumani Singh – 55kg: Commonwealth Games silver medallist.
- Sachin Siwach – 60kg: Commonwealth Games gold medallist.
- Sumit Kundu – 70kg: Asian Games debutant.
- Ankush Panghal – 80kg: Commonwealth Games gold medallist and Asian Games debutant.
- Kapil Pokhariya – 90kg: Asian Games debutant.
- Narender Berwal – +90kg: Hangzhou bronze medallist and Commonwealth Games silver medallist.
The squad also shows how the Asian Games programme has changed India’s selection picture. Commonwealth Games champions Jaismine Lamboria and Arundhati Choudhary are not in Japan because their 57kg and 70kg categories are not part of the Asian Games programme.
PREETI AND PRIYA LEAD CHARGE
Preeti Pawar has already been here before. She won bronze at the Hangzhou Asian Games and returns to the competition after a year in which she has added both Asian Championships and Commonwealth Games gold to her rsum.
Her 54kg category is also one of the most difficult draws India could have asked for. Chinese Taipei’s Huang Hsiao-wen, North Korea’s Pang Chol-mi, Kazakhstan’s Nazym Kyzaibay and China’s Xuan Zhao are among the names in the wider field. Preeti has beaten some of those leading opponents before, including Huang, and has been working specifically on counters and body-switch punches ahead of the Games.
That experience could matter. At Hangzhou, Preeti was still finding her feet at the senior international level. Two years later, she arrives as an Asian champion and Commonwealth Games champion.
Priya Ghanghas has a similar story, although this will be her first Asian Games. The 20-year-old had a superb Glasgow campaign, winning the 60kg gold, and then followed it with Asian Championships gold.
The difference this time will be the depth around her. Winning the Commonwealth title gave Priya confidence, but the Asian Games will bring a much wider range of styles and considerably more experienced opposition.
Sakshi Chaudhary is another woman who has moved quickly. She won Commonwealth Games gold in the 51kg category and earned her Asian Games place after beating Minakshi Hooda in the national trials. Her run also included a win over two-time world champion Nikhat Zareen.
LOVLINA’S GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY
Lovlina Borgohain’s story at the Asian Games has already had one frustrating chapter. She won silver in Hangzhou and will now return in the 75kg category looking to change the colour of that medal.
The Commonwealth Games in Glasgow offered another chance, but it ended in another silver. Lovlina lost 4-1 to Australia’s Emma-Sue Greentree in a closely fought final, missing out on what would have been her first Commonwealth Games gold. It was the only blemish on an otherwise extraordinary day for India’s women, who won five boxing golds.
That defeat makes Aichi-Nagoya particularly interesting. Lovlina is not an inexperienced boxer trying to make her way through a major Games. She is a Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist, a former world champion and an Asian Games silver medallist.
She also knows what it feels like to be close without finishing on top.
At 28, this is another opportunity to add an Asian Games gold to a career that already includes some of the biggest medals in Indian women’s boxing.
Parveen Hooda will provide another experienced option for India in the 65kg category. She won bronze at Hangzhou at 57kg and has since moved up, meaning her campaign will be about adapting to a new weight category as much as navigating the draw.
SACHIN, ANKUSH LEAD MEN’S CHARGE
The men’s side has not had the same consistency at major events as the women in recent years, but Glasgow changed the mood around the group.
Sachin Siwach was one of the headline performers, winning Commonwealth Games gold in the 60kg category. He now gets an Asian Games field that is far stronger than the one he encountered in Glasgow and will be among India’s more realistic medal hopes.
Ankush Panghal also arrives as a Commonwealth champion. His 80kg gold was one of the highlights of India’s record haul, and although this is his first Asian Games, he has already shown that he can handle the pressure of a major multi-sport final.
Jadumani Singh will be looking to go one step further after taking silver in Glasgow in the 55kg category. He lost his final to Australia’s Jye Dixon, but the run to the gold-medal bout was an important breakthrough.
Then there is Narender Berwal, the most experienced Asian Games boxer in the men’s group. He won bronze at Hangzhou and followed it with silver at the Commonwealth Games.
That combination makes Narender particularly interesting in the +90kg division. He has already dealt with the Asian Games environment and now returns after another major final.
Sumit Kundu and Kapil Pokhariya complete the men’s group at 70kg and 90kg. Both will make their Asian Games debuts and will have to navigate some of the toughest categories in the draw.
INDIA’S BOXING SCHEDULE
The boxing competition runs from September 21 to October 2 at Nishio Gymnasium. The schedule below shows the Indian category involved on each day. Since these are preliminary-round sessions, the listed boxer will not necessarily fight on every date that their category appears.
September 21
- Men’s 90kg: Kapil Pokhariya
- Men’s +90kg: Narender Berwal
- Men’s 70kg: Sumit Kundu
September 22
- Women’s 51kg: Sakshi Chaudhary
- Women’s 54kg: Preeti Pawar
- Men’s 55kg: Jadumani Singh
September 23
- Men’s 60kg: Sachin Siwach
- Men’s 80kg: Ankush Panghal
September 24
- Men’s 70kg: Sumit Kundu
- Women’s 51kg: Sakshi Chaudhary
- Women’s 65kg: Parveen Hooda
September 25
- Men’s 60kg: Sachin Siwach
- Men’s +90kg: Narender Berwal
- Women’s 54kg: Preeti Pawar
September 26
- Men’s 55kg: Jadumani Singh
- Men’s 90kg: Kapil Pokhariya
- Women’s 60kg: Priya Ghanghas
September 27
- Men’s 80kg: Ankush Panghal
- Men’s 60kg: Sachin Siwach
- Men’s +90kg: Narender Berwal
- Women’s 54kg: Preeti Pawar
- Women’s 65kg: Parveen Hooda
September 28
- Men’s 70kg: Sumit Kundu
- Men’s 55kg: Jadumani Singh
- Men’s 90kg: Kapil Pokhariya
- Women’s 51kg: Sakshi Chaudhary
- Women’s 60kg: Priya Ghanghas
- Women’s 75kg: Lovlina Borgohain
September 29 – Semifinals
- Men’s 60kg: Sachin Siwach
- Men’s 80kg: Ankush Panghal
- Men’s +90kg: Narender Berwal
- Women’s 54kg: Preeti Pawar
- Women’s 65kg: Parveen Hooda
September 30 – Semifinals
- Men’s 55kg: Jadumani Singh
- Men’s 70kg: Sumit Kundu
- Men’s 90kg: Kapil Pokhariya
- Women’s 51kg: Sakshi Chaudhary
- Women’s 60kg: Priya Ghanghas
- Women’s 75kg: Lovlina Borgohain
October 2 – Finals
- Men’s 55kg, 60kg, 70kg, 80kg, 90kg and +90kg
- Women’s 51kg, 54kg, 60kg, 65kg and 75kg
The official schedule has the semifinals spread across September 29 and 30, followed by all 11 gold-medal bouts on October 2.
KEY MATCHES TO WATCH
- Preeti Pawar, 54kg: This is arguably the most intriguing women’s category for India. Preeti already has an Asian Games bronze, has beaten leading opponents such as Huang Hsiao-wen and Pang Chol-mi, and arrives after winning both the Asian Championships and Commonwealth Games. Her route through the draw will be worth following from the first bout.
- Priya Ghanghas, 60kg: Priya is coming off two major gold medals in 2026. The Asian Games will tell us how the young boxer handles the jump from Commonwealth and Asian Championships success to a deeper continental field.
- Lovlina Borgohain, 75kg: Another final would be significant, but this time Lovlina will want more than that. After silver at Hangzhou and silver again in Glasgow, she has another chance to finish a major Games campaign with gold.
- Sakshi Chaudhary, 51kg: Her Commonwealth Games gold and victory over Nikhat Zareen in the Asian Games trials have put her firmly into the conversation. The challenge now is doing it against an Asian field where several of the leading names have world-level experience.
- Sachin Siwach, 60kg: India’s men’s 60kg boxer comes in as a Commonwealth Games champion and will have to deal with a very different level of competition in Aichi-Nagoya. A deep run here would be another significant step in his progression.
- Ankush Panghal, 80kg: Glasgow was his breakthrough. A gold medal on his Asian Games debut would put that Commonwealth success into a much wider context.
- Narender Berwal, +90kg: He is India’s only male boxer in this squad with a medal from the previous Asian Games. After bronze in Hangzhou and silver in Glasgow, the heavyweight is again one of India’s most experienced medal hopes.
Mary Kom’s 2014 gold remains the last time an Indian woman boxer stood on top of the Asian Games podium. Preeti, Priya, Sakshi and Lovlina now have the form, experience and recent results to give India a genuine shot at ending that wait.
Whether Glasgow was the start of something bigger or simply a brilliant fortnight will become clearer once India’s boxers start meeting Asia’s best in the ring.
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