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Asian Games: Boxers assure India of three medals
Indian boxers Ankush Panghal, Parveen Hooda, and Narender Brewal secured spots in the Asian Games semi-finals, ensuring three medals.
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New Delhi: Boxers Ankush Panghal, Parveen Hooda and Narender Brewal won their quarter-final bouts to assure India of three medals at the Asian Games on Sunday while Sachin Siwach’s campaign was ended by local favourite and 2025 World Championships bronze medallist Shunsuke Kitamoto.
Ankush, making his Asian Games debut, dominated Tajikistan’s Salimov Nekruz in all three rounds and cruised to a unanimous 5-0 win in the 80kg quarter-final. A semi-final spot means the army man from Hisar, Haryana will return with at least a bronze.
A gold medallist at this year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Ankush had beaten Bahrain’s Hamsa Vogel in his Round of 16 bout. The 20-year-old broke on to the scene last year at the World Boxing Cup Finals in Greater Noida where he won silver. At the Asian Championships in Ulaanbaatar this year Ankush won another silver to cement his place in the team, and followed it up with the CWG gold.
Another Glasgow gold medallist, Parveen Hooda, also advanced to the last four with a 5-0 win over 2025 World Championships silver medallist from Uzbekistan Khamidova Navbakhor in the women’s 65kg quarter-final. Parveen, who received an opening round walkover, landed a flurry of combination punches on her opponent to impress the judges.
The medal is sweet redemption for Rohtak’s Hooda whose bronze medal from the previous edition of the Games was taken away after WADA suspended her for whereabouts failure.
Narender Berwal, the 2023 Asiad bronze medallist, registered a dominating win over Thailand’s Saengtep Adthapong in the +90kg quarter-final. The Thai looked ill-equipped for the contest and Narender took full toll, winning by RSC in just 1:37 minutes.
Sachin Siwach was the only reversal for the boxing contingent on the day, the 60kg pugilist losing to Japan’s Kitamoto Shunsuke by a 0-5 scoreline.
