New Delhi: Indian boxer Preeti Pawar has booked her place in the women’s 54kg final at the Asian Boxing Championships 2026 after defeating Paris 2024 Olympic bronze medallist Aeji Im of the Republic of Korea in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
Pawar dominated all three rounds against Im and secured a 5-0 unanimous decision victory. She will now face Huang Hsiao-wen of Chinese Taipei – a three-time world boxing champion and Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist – in the gold-medal bout, according to olympics.com.
In the women’s 60kg category, Priya defeated Mongolia’s Namuun Monkhor by a 5-0 unanimous decision to reach the final. She will next take on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s Un Gyong Won for the title.
Arundhati Choudhary also impressed in the women’s 70kg semi-final, beating Uzbekistan’s Oysha Toirova 4-1. She will challenge Kazakhstan’s Bakyt Seidish for gold.
However, former world champion Nikhat Zareen fell to Paris 2024 champion Wu Yu of China in the 51kg semi-final. Olympic medallist Lovlina Borgohain lost to Uzbekistan’s Aziza Zokirova in the 75kg bout, while Pooja Rani went down to Kazakhstan’s Nadezhda Ryabets in the 80kg contest. Both Zokirova and Ryabets are world championship medallists. All three Indian boxers lost by identical 5-0 margins and settled for bronze medals.
In the 65kg category, Ankushita Boro lost 3-0 to Chinese Taipei’s Nien-Chin Chen, a Paris 2024 bronze medallist, and also took a bronze.
India still has more boxers to compete in the semi-finals. World champions Minakshi Hooda and Jaismine Lamboria will fight in the women’s 48kg and 57kg categories, respectively. Six Indian men will also compete in the men’s semi-finals, giving the country further chances to add to its medal tally.
