India's Boxing Hope: Meet the Six Champions Heading to Paris 2024 Olympics

India's Boxing Hope: Meet the Six Champions Heading to Paris 2024 Olympics
Four female and two male boxers from India have qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics. Nikhat Zareen (50 kg), Preeti Pawar (54 kg), Jaismine Lamboria (57 kg) and Lovlina Borgohain (74 kg) are the women boxers who have qualified whereas Amit Panghal (51 kg) and Nishant Dev (71 kg) are the only men to have done so.
Nikhat Zareen won an Olympic quota during the Asian Games in Hangzhou last year. She had reached the semi-finals of the 2022 Asian Games, where she eventually lost to Thailand’s Raksat Chuthamat. However, even by reaching the semi-finals of the Asian Games, she had secured a quota for Paris Olympics.
Like Zareen, Preeti Pawar secured an Olympic quota for the Paris Olympics during the 2022 Asian Games. She takes part in the 54 kg category as was the case at the Asian Games last year, when she had beaten Kazakhstan’s Zhaina Shekerbekova to not only reach the semi-finals, but also earn herself a Paris Olympics quota.
In the semi-final of the Asian Games, however, Preeti went down to China’s Yuan Chang and eventually clinch a bronze medal.
Lovlina Borgohain will be one of the favourites to win a medal at Paris Olympics. She had won the bronze medal in Tokyo three years back. That was in the 69 kg category, but this time, Lovlina will compete in the 74 kg category.
Lovlina had won an Olympic quota as she won a silver medal at the Asian Games last year in the 75 kg category. As far as recent results are concerned, the 26 year-old is coming on the back of a silver medal at the Czech Grand Prix in June. Last year, she had also won gold in the middleweight category at the World Championships in Delhi.
Jaismine Lamboria was not even in the picture for Paris Olympics qualification up until recently. Earlier this year, Parveeen Hooda, who had initially secured an Olympic quota in the women’s 57 kg category, had been suspended by World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) for a whereabouts failure over a 12-month period.
That opened up a window of opportunity for Jaismine , who defeated Marine Camara of Mali in the quarter-finals of the World Boxing Qualifiers in Bangkok earlier in June.
Nishant Dev became the first men’s pugilist to secure a Paris Olympics quota. He secured the quota after he made the semi-finals of the men’s 71 kg category at the World Olympic Boxing Qualifiers in Bangkok recently. He defeated Vasile Cebotari 5-0 in the quota bout at the Olympic Boxing Qualifiers.
Amit Panghal acquired a ticket to the Paris Olympics with a unanimous 5-0 win over China’s Liu Chuang at the World Boxing Qualifiers in Bangkok. Panghal, however, has faced quite a few challenges in his road to Paris. He lost his place in the Indian national boxing team due to the Boxing Federation of India’s (BFI) evaluation system, which went to Deepak Bhoria, world championships bronze medallist.
Ever since the Tokyo Olympics, the only major competition Panghal participated was the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, where he won gold.
Earlier this year, Panghal also won gold at the Strandja Memorial tournament.
India would hope for at least a medal in boxing at the Paris Olympics, given the form some of these boxers have been in. Lovlina Borgohain will undoubtedly be one of the top favourites and this time around, she will hope to go all the way and win a potential gold medal.
Amit Panghal, a two-time Commonwealth Games medallist is also another contender but it remains to be seen how far he can go. At the Tokyo Olympics, Amit suffered a last-16 exit after losing to Yuberjen Martinez of Colombia.
Also adding to Amit’s woes is the lack of bout time he has had at major tournaments since the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
Zareen looks like another promising candidate to win a medal at the Olympics. She won a gold medal at the Elorda Cup in Kazakhstan recently and that will put her in good stead in her bid to go all the way in Paris. But, it’s easier said than done.
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