In-form Indian boxers look to buck the trend at Asian Games

CHENNAI: Indian boxers have made notable strides since the beginning of 2025. Be it World Cups, World Championships, Asian Championships or the Commonwealth Games, the pugilists, especially women, have raised their game to return with a record number of medals. In Nishio City in Japan at the moment, the boxers are plotting to keep up the trend in the upcoming Asian Games. They understandably have tall aspirations but they also know the challenge ahead is going to be equally steep as the Asian Games is a different gravy.

Olympic champions, world champions from top boxing nations like China, Chinese Taipei, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Thailand and South Korea will also have similar aspirations.

Moreover, the Asiad is a competition where Indians have won just a few medals in recent editions. In the last edition, India had captured four medals — one silver and three bronze. The last time India had won a gold was in the 2018 edition through Amit Panghal. The last woman to achieve the same was MC Mary Kom, now retired.

Nevertheless, the boxing contingent is upbeat, given the signs of promise they have displayed in the last two years or so. The legendary Mary Kom is not there anymore but new faces like Preeti Sai Pawar (54kg) and Sakshi Choudhary (51kg), just to name a few, have emerged to lend the team renewed optimism ahead of the latest edition.

Renowned coach Chhote Lal Yadav, who has been guiding both at Army Sports Institute Pune, also acknowledged that the event is perhaps the biggest challenge for the fairly young contingent. But he backed the talented bunch to be in the conversation for medals. "The women have good chances, getting maximum medals. In men, I'm backing Sachin (Siwach), Jadu (Jadumani) and Narender (Berwal) to do well. This is what I feel, I'm not too sure about men but the women could do well," Chhote Lal, who previously coached Mary Kom, told The New Indian Express.

Since making a return after health issues last year, Preeti has gradually regained her powers inside the ring, living up to her promise so far. The coach backed her to beat the best in the business in the days to come. "From what I know, Preeti can (beat) most opponents but it depends on how she performs on the day. A boxer from Chinese Taipei is No 1 (Hsiao-Wen Huang) and there could be tough opponents from China too. Against the boxer from Chinese Taipei, Preeti has beaten her twice in the past." Similarly, he also backed the likes of Lovlina Borgohain, a name that needs no introduction and youngsters like Priya Ghanghas.

The men haven't had the same amount of success, but they have also been showing signs of improvement in recent times. Boxers like Sachin, Jadumani and Narender have demonstrated enough promise for their opponents to take them as serious threats. "Narender is experienced and has won a medal in the Games in the past. Sachin is the in-form boxer and if he gets a favourable draw, he could reach the finals. The draw will be crucial," Chhote Lal said.

It's no surprise that women's head coach, Santiago Nieva, who's currently with the team in Japan, also considers the Asiad to be the boxers' biggest test this year. Having overseen their recent improvement, Nieva is backing his wards to aim high. "Most of the boxers will be the same from the Asian Championships, where we did really well. Of course, there are fewer weight categories here and we're missing out on some of our strong categories. But we always aim high, we have to. We also know that it will be a tough competition where many of the world's best, including Olympic champions and world champions, will be here. Some of the strongest boxing nations will be here so it will be an extremely tough championship but we have high hopes," Nieva told The New Indian Express from Nishio City.

Nieva was part of the team when India last won a gold medal in the continental event through Panghal. The Argentina-born Swede coach is hopeful that the boxers can emulate that feat. "We always want to be better than the last. We know they have not had many gold medals in recent history. We obviously would like to have a go. I was there when Amit (Panghal) won the last gold in the 2018 edition so we want a gold medal. We have boxers who are more than capable of winning gold medals but we also know the margins are small, it's a strong field. We won't be totally satisfied if we don't win a gold medal."

Jadumani and the rest of the 11-member boxing contingent had recently had quality sparring with boxers from Dominican Republic and Iran in Patiala. Having reached Japan on Wednesday, they will now undergo a camp with some of the potential rivals ahead of the multidiscipline event, which is scheduled to be held from September 19 to October 4. "We'll try to organise some sparring. We need three good spars and then we just tape them down in the physical preparations so that they are in great shape when the Games begin," Nieva signed off.