Ankush Panghal, Parveen Hooda and Lovlina Borgohain to contest boxing golds at Asian Games 2026

Three Indian boxers — Ankush Panghal, Parveen Hooda and Lovlina Borgohain — will fight for gold medals at the Asian Games 2026 in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, the tournament that runs from September 19 to October 4. Two of those finals, for Ankush and Lovlina, are scheduled for October 2.

India sent an 11-member boxing contingent to Aichi-Nagoya but the campaign has produced mixed results to date. Jadumani Singh, who won silver at the Commonwealth Games 2026, was knocked out in the second round, and CWG 2026 gold medallist Sakshi Chaudhary also lost in the second round. Sachin Siwach, a CWG 2026 and World Boxing Cup gold medallist, exited in the quarter-finals, while Narender Berwal lost to Aibek Oralbay of Kazakhstan and settled for his second consecutive Asian Games bronze. Priya Ghanghas and Kapil Pokhariya have each taken bronze after semi-final defeats.

Ankush Panghal, the Commonwealth Games 2026 gold medallist, will contest the men’s 80kg final against South Korea’s Kim Minseong on October 2. Panghal reached the final with unanimous decision wins over Bahrain’s Hamsa Vogel and Tajikistan’s Nekruz Salimov before edging former world champion Fazliddin Erkinboev of Uzbekistan by a split 4-1 decision in the semi-final.

Parveen Hooda, whose Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games bronze was stripped due to a doping violation, has advanced to the women’s 65kg final where she will face Chinese Taipei’s Chen Nien-chin. Parveen progressed after a walkover against Tajikistan’s Malika Nozimova and unanimous-decision victories over Uzbekistan’s Navbakhor Khamidova and China’s Li Shu.

Tokyo 2020 Olympics bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain will contest the women’s 75kg final against China’s Ziyi Bao on October 2. Lovlina opened her Aichi-Nagoya campaign with a unanimous decision over South Korea’s Suyeon Seong and then defeated World Championships gold medallist Natalya Bogdanova of Kazakhstan by a 3-2 split decision; she had earlier won silver at the Hangzhou 2022 Games.

Three Indian boxers have reached their respective finals and will compete for gold: Ankush Panghal, Parveen Hooda and Lovlina Borgohain. India currently holds three bronze medals at the Games, earned by Narender Berwal, Priya Ghanghas and Kapil Pokhariya.

Ankush Panghal and Lovlina Borgohain are scheduled to fight their finals on October 2, while Parveen Hooda will meet Chen Nien-chin in the women’s 65kg gold-medal match.