File photo of Parveen Hooda.© X (formerly Twitter)
Indian boxer Parveen Hooda made it to the quarterfinals of the women’s 65kg category after receiving a walkover from Tajikistan’s Malika Nozimova in the round of 16 at the Nishio Gymnasium on Thursday. Parveen, whose bronze medal was taken away from her at the Hangzhou Games, is now one win away from securing a medal at the Aichi-Nagoya Games 2026. She will face reigning world silver medallist Navbakhor Khamidova of Uzbekistan in the quarterfinals for a place in the semifinals. Meanwhile, India’s Commonwealth Games champion Sakshi Chaudhary bowed out of the Asian Games after her 2-3 loss to reigning world champion Alua Balkibekova in the women’s 51kg pre-quarterfinals. The Indian pugilist put up a strong fight for a place in the quarterfinals but lost the bout after receiving three 27-30 scorecards against her, while two judges scored it 30-27 and 29-28 in her favour.
Another Indian boxer, Sumit, was also in action in the men’s 79kg round of 16. He was leading the bout after winning both of the first two rounds but suffered an injury early in the third round and lost the contest after the referee stopped it. The Indian boxer was unable to walk afterwards, with the injury appearing to be a suspected knee issue.
Talking about Parveen, the Haryana-born boxer is the 2022 Asian champion in the 63kg category. She had moved down to 57kg for the 2023 Asiad and had initially secured a bronze medal and an Olympic quota for India. However, both achievements were taken away from her after she was handed a suspension by WADA for three whereabouts failures within a 12-month period. She will be hoping to secure a medal this time around.
Meanwhile, Sakshi is the CWG 2026 gold medallist and has made a name for herself in the boxing circuit. Sakshi had defeated Paris Olympics bronze medallist Aira Villegas in the preliminary round of the Asian Games 2026 to march into the pre-quarterfinals.
Chaudhary outclassed the Filipino pugilist by a unanimous 5-0 decision, delivering a stellar performance on her Asian Games debut at the Nishio Gymnasium.
Sakshi is already a renowned pugilist and has defeated some of the biggest names in the sport. She got the better of two-time world champion Nikhat Zareen and reigning world champion Minakshi Hooda in the selection trials for the Commonwealth Games 2026. After dropping from 54kg, she defeated Nikhat in the semifinals of the trials before beating 48kg champion Hooda in the final to earn a ticket for the CWG 2026.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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