Berwal takes Commonwealth Games silver after narrow heavyweight defeat, vows to target Asian Games

Narender Berwal won the silver medal in the Commonwealth Games heavyweight final after a narrow loss to England’s Damar Thomas. He said he will work on his game and aims to succeed at the upcoming Asian Games.

Berwal reached the championship bout in the heavyweight division but was edged out in a close contest with Thomas. The result left him with silver at the Commonwealth Games. India's boxing unit, despite some tight defeats, ended the tournament with a haul that marked its most successful Commonwealth Games boxing campaign, collecting ten medals in total.

In the gold-medal match, Berwal was narrowly beaten by Damar Thomas of England, a result that decided the top podium spot by a small margin. The bout was a late-stage showdown in the tournament’s boxing schedule and ultimately produced the silver for the Indian boxer. While the loss denied him the title, it also underscored how marginal differences determined several outcomes across the draws.

Berwal expressed determination to improve and succeed at the upcoming Asian Games. He framed the Commonwealth Games experience as a stepping-stone and indicated his intention to address what went wrong in the final. That focus on refinement is intended to convert near-misses into victories at the continental level.

Across the Indian contingent, a number of matches were decided by narrow margins, and those close results affected overall medal potential for the team. Several promising opportunities failed to translate into wins by the slimmest of differences, which kept some medal hopes from materialising. Nonetheless, the collective performances produced a strong medal return for India’s boxing squad.

Despite the tight losses, the boxing team’s final tally of ten medals represented the country’s best showing at the Commonwealth Games in the sport. The haul reflected depth across weight categories and the capacity to reach the later stages of multiple brackets. That success offers a foundation as individual athletes, including Berwal, prepare for the next major event.

Berwal has pledged to bounce back and target success at the Asian Games, using the Commonwealth Games campaign as motivation. The silver provides both evidence of his competitiveness and a clear objective for improvement ahead of the continental meet.