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Indian boxers Parveen Hooda (women's 65 kg) and Ankush Panghal (men's 80 kg) advanced to the final at the Asian Games 2026 with their respective semifinal wins on September 29. Narendra Berwal (men's 90 kg+) had to settle for a bronze medal after he lost his semifinal bout.
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Parveen went up against China's Li Shu in the semifinal. She beat the Chinse boxer 5-0 to storm into the gold medal match.
In the previous edition of Asian Games, Parveen's bronze medal was taken away following her 22-month suspension by International Testing Agency following a whereabouts failure.
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She is the third Indian female boxer to reach the final in Asian Games history. The first to do it was Mary Kom who won the gold in 2014 edition. In the previous edition, Lovlina Borgohain made it to the final and settled for a silver medal. In the current edition, Borgohain has made it to the semifinal in women's 75kg semifinal. She is set to win another Asian Games medal but it's colour is yet to be determined.
Panghal made a dramatic comeback in his clash against current 75 kg world champion, Uzbekinstan's Fazliddin Erkinboev. Panghal won the semifinal 4-1 to make it to the gold medal bout.
Narender was no match for the current heavyweight world champion Aibek Oralbay. The Kazakhstan boxer beat him 5-0 to reach the final. Narender bowed out of the competition with a bronze medal. This is India’s 22nd bronze medal at Asian Games 2026. Berwal had won a bronze medal in the previous edition as well.
Other boxers set to win a medal
Earlier, on September 28, Priya Ghanghas and Kapil Pokhariya assured themselves of a medal as well. Priya got the better of Tajikistan's Mijgona Samadova 5-0 in the quarter-final of women's 60kg category. Pokhariya had defeated Korea's Kim Gichae in the men's 90kg category by 5-0 to assure himself of a medal.
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