Asian Games: Boxers Parveen, Ankush fight for gold; Narender wins bronze

India’s Parveen Hooda and Ankush Panghal stormed into the boxing final at the 2026 Asian Games after impressive semi-final victories, while Narender Berwal settled for a bronze medal after losing in the men’s 90kg semi-final on Tuesday.

Parveen defeated China’s Li Shu 5-0 in the women’s 65kg semi-final before Ankush staged a stunning comeback to beat Uzbekistan’s Fazliddin Erkinboev 4-1 in the men’s 80kg semi-final.

Erkinboev is the reigning world champion in the 75kg category, making Ankush’s victory a sensational result on his Asian Games debut.

Ankush trailed 1-4 after the opening round but turned the match around in impressive fashion in the next two rounds. He won the second round 3-2, then dominated the third 5-0 to seal a 4-1 victory. Four judges scored the bout 29-28 in his favor, while one judge gave the round-by-round verdict to Erkinboev.

Ankush became the first Indian boxer to reach the Asian Games final since Amit Panghal won gold in the 49kg category at the 2018 Jakarta Games.

Earlier, Parveen stood up dominantly against Li Shu. She narrowly won the opening round 3-2, then went 5-0 in the second and third rounds to complete a convincing 5-0 win.

Parveen will take on Chinese Taipei’s Chen Nien-chin in the gold medal clash. The final placing means that Parveen went a step further than her performance at the previous Asian Games in Hangzhou where she won a bronze medal. This medal was later revoked after the International Testing Agency suspended her for 22 months for an error in whereabouts.

Parveen is now only the third Indian boxer to reach the finals of the Asian Games, after MC Mary Kom, who won gold in 2014, and Lovlina Borgohain, who won silver in the previous edition.

Meanwhile, Narender lost 0-5 to Kazakhstan’s reigning world super heavyweight champion Aibek Oralbay in the men’s 90kg semi-final.

Oralbay dominated the match with his powerful punches and won all three rounds. Narender fought hard but was unable to overcome the deficit as the Kazakh boxer secured a 5-0 unanimous decision victory.

Narender thus claimed another Asian Games bronze after also winning a bronze at the Hangzhou 2022 Games.

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

– The end