Asian Games: Parveen Hooda, Ankush Panghal reach boxing finals; Narender Berwal earns bronze

Parveen Hooda and Ankush Panghal advanced to the boxing finals at the Asian Games on Tuesday after winning their respective semifinals, while Narender Berwal secured a bronze medal after losing his men's +90kg semifinal.

Parveen defeated China's Li Shu 5-0 in the women's 65kg semifinal and will face Chinese Taipei's Chen Nien-chin in the gold medal bout; Ankush produced a comeback to beat Uzbekistan's Fazliddin Erkinboev 4-1 in the men's 80kg semifinal. Erkinboev is the reigning world champion in the 75kg category, and the source notes Ankush's victory came on his Asian Games debut. Parveen went one place further than at the previous Asian Games in Hangzhou, where she won a bronze medal that was later taken away after the International Testing Agency suspended her for 22 months for a whereabouts failure. Parveen is now the third Indian woman to reach an Asian Games final, after MC Mary Kom (gold in 2014) and Lovlina Borgohain (silver at the previous edition).

Against Li Shu, Parveen narrowly won the opening round 3-2 before taking the second and third rounds 5-0 to complete a unanimous 5-0 victory in the women's 65kg semifinal.

Ankush trailed 1-4 after the opening round of his men's 80kg semifinal, edged the second round 3-2 and won the third 5-0 to secure a 4-1 split-decision victory. Four judges scored the bout 29-28 in his favour, while one judge gave the round-by-round verdict to Erkinboev. Ankush has become 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.

In the men's +90kg semifinal, Narender lost 0-5 to Kazakhstan's reigning super heavyweight world champion Aibek Oralbay; Oralbay won all three rounds and the bout by a unanimous 5-0 decision. Narender fought hard but could not overturn the deficit and thus added another Asian Games bronze to his tally after also winning bronze at the 2022 Hangzhou Games.

India have now secured six boxing medals at the ongoing Asian Games, surpassing their five-medal haul from the previous edition.

Parveen will meet Chen Nien-chin in the women's 65kg gold medal bout, and Ankush will contest the men's 80kg final.