Ankush Panghal and Parveen Hooda both reached Asian Games 2026 boxing gold-medal bouts on September 29.
Panghal beat Uzbekistan’s Fazliddin Erkinboev 4-1 in the men’s 80kg semifinal.
Hooda beat China’s Li Shu 5-0 in the women’s 65kg semifinal.
Both are guaranteed at least a silver medal.
Narender Berwal separately won bronze in the men’s over-90kg category.
Ankush Panghal beat Uzbekistan’s Fazliddin Erkinboev 4-1 to reach the men’s 80kg boxing final at the Asian Games 2026.
He will face South Korea’s Kim Min-Seong in the gold-medal bout.
Panghal is the first Indian male boxer in eight years to reach an Asian Games final.
The last Indian male boxer to do so was Amit Panghal, who won the 49kg title in 2018.
Parveen Hooda beat China’s Li Shu 5-0 by unanimous decision to reach the women’s 65kg final.
She will face Chinese Taipei’s Chen Nien-chin in the gold-medal bout.
Both Panghal and Hooda are guaranteed at least a silver medal.
Narender Berwal won bronze in the men’s over-90kg category after losing his semifinal to Kazakhstan’s Aibek Oralbay.
The boxing finals are scheduled for later in the Asian Games 2026 schedule.
India’s boxing programme has continued to develop new medal contenders across weight categories in recent years.
The Asian Games 2026 are being held in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, from September 19 to October 4.
India’s overall medal tally at the Games rose to 48 following the results on September 29, including five gold, 21 silver and 22 bronze.
Boxing at the Asian Games features both men’s and women’s categories across multiple weight divisions.
Amateur boxing bouts at the Asian Games are typically scored by a panel of ringside judges across three rounds.
India has produced a number of internationally competitive boxers across weight categories in the past decade.
South Korea and China have traditionally fielded strong boxing squads at the Asian Games.
Amateur boxing (representative image), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
