Never before has India won three boxing gold medals in one Asian Games or topped the medal tally. On Friday, in the space of a few hours, three boxers at varying stages of their career corrected these historical anomalies as India ended their boxing campaign with six medals—three gold and three bronze.
Lovlina Borgohain (75kg), Parveen Hooda (65kg) and Ankush Panghal (80kg) punched their way to glory as India finished ahead of powerhouse Uzbekistan (7 medals; 2 gold, 1 silver, 4 bronze) and Kazakhstan (4 medals; 2-0-2). These are their stories:
Veteran's struggle for relevance
Watching Lovlina compete can be an exercise in exasperation. Blessed with reach but lacking resolve—that's what boxing insiders whisper. After a quiet two years following her final loss in 2023 Hangzhou, she rediscovered the fire in Aichi. The 5-0 win final over China's Bao Ziyi made her only the second Indian woman, after Mary Kom (2014), to win an Asiad gold.
Deep Dive
How did Lovlina Borgohain make a comeback after her struggles in recent years?
What obstacles did Parveen Hooda face before winning the Asian Games gold medal?
What distinguishes Ankush Panghal's boxing style and performance at the Asian Games?
Lovlina entered the final after a 3-2 win over Kazakhstan's reigning world champion Natalya Bogdanova before humbling Ziyi. A solid defensive boxer who likes to counterpunch, Ziyi threw a flurry of punches but lacked accuracy.
With a distinct height advantage, Lovlina cashed in with jabs and upper cuts. The first two rounds were won by split decisions, but Lovlina started to get sharper. She was felled twice by the Chinese who resorted to clinching to evade punishment, but that didn't deter the Indian.
{{/usCountry}}With a distinct height advantage, Lovlina cashed in with jabs and upper cuts. The first two rounds were won by split decisions, but Lovlina started to get sharper. She was felled twice by the Chinese who resorted to clinching to evade punishment, but that didn't deter the Indian.
{{/usCountry}}The Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist who turned 29 on Friday had planned to retire after the 2024 Paris Olympics. "It was a tough year for me. I wanted to quit boxing, but I continued. I had to change the colour of my medal (at the Asian Games). It was very important. More important than that was that I continued to play," Lovlina said after her victory.
She took a year’s break and endured an early exit at the 2025 World Championships before skipping the World Boxing Cup Final at home. A Glasgow Commonwealth Games silver was nothing to gloat about as she was one of only two Indian women boxing medallists who didn’t win gold.
She is not a shoo-in for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, the qualification for which will begin with next year's World Championships. But she refuses to cave in. The body is ageing, the mind is tiring, but for now, the fire is still burning.
A redemption for the ages
Three years after her 57kg bronze medal at 2023 Hangzhou was scratched for whereabouts failure, Parveen Hooda redeemed herself with the 65kg gold. The 26-year-old beat Chinese Taipei’s reigning Asian gold medallist, Chen Nien-chin, in a split (3-2) verdict.
Hailing from Haryana's Rohtak, Parveen took up boxing as a 11-year-old when the village headman, Sudhir Hooda, started a handball and boxing academy. She came into limelight in 2019 after defeating the seasoned Sarita Devi in domestic trials.
She bagged a quota for the Paris Olympics at Hangzhou only for the whereabouts suspension to scupper her participation. She gradually resumed training, but a right shoulder injury soon after took five months to recover.
“I knew I had to start from scratch. I was in constant touch with the national camp’s psychologist… My Paris dream ended prematurely, but I knew LA was in front of me. That motivated me," she had told HT.
A World Boxing Cup Finals gold in 60kg was followed by a step-up to 65kg, though she was the only woman boxer to not medal at the CWG.
The face-off against the Paris Olympics bronze medallist on Friday wasn’t easy, and Chen tested Parveen in every aspect. More than once, she was pushed to the ropes or the corner, but nimble footwork and relentless offence helped extricate herself. Chen's guard was tough to breach, but the sharp left jab was effective. Parveen dominated with right jabs to take the first round, although Chen’s combinations began to land as she took the second. The final round though went decisively Parveen's way as she scripted redemption.
A star is born
These have been a whirlwind 11 months for Ankush Panghal. The 21-year-old from Hisar, Haryana broke into the national scene last November taking 80kg silver at the World Boxing Cup Final as a late injury replacement. His enterprising style convinced many national coaches that he was a talent to watch out for. On Friday, he delivered on that early promise.
Ankush beat South Korea's Kim Minesong 4-0 in the final to cap a memorable Asiad debut. The last Indian man to win an Asian Games gold was Amit Panghal in 2018, and the last Indian heavyweight Games champion was the late Hawa Singh (1966, 1970).
He took up boxing as a ten-year-old when his father Suresh, a former state-level kabaddi player, took his three daughters and Ankush to Rajesh Sheoran's Universal Boxing Academy. "I wanted my kids to take up boxing. It's an individual sport, so the onus is entirely on the athlete," Suresh said. For six years, Ankush trained under Rajesh before joining the army in 2019.
"He is a fearless boxer. A bit of a slow starter which explains why he often concedes points early on…He needs to work on his footwork, which will make him all the more potent," Rajesh said.
Young boxers Jadumani Singh, Abhinash Jamwal and Sachin Siwach are making a mark. There is also an emphasis on identifying talent in the heavier divisions. Ankush's win thus is a major boost. Three Indian male heavyweights, Kapil Pokhariya (90kg) and Narender Brewal (+90kg) being the others, have won bronze in Aichi-Nagoya.