Ankush Panghal clinched the gold medal in the men’s 80kg boxing category after defeating South Korea’s Kim Minseong 4-0 in the final at the Nishio Gymnasium on Friday. His victory brought the curtains down on India’s boxing campaign at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games with a haul of three gold and three bronze medals.
Ankush dominated the final from the opening bell and maintained control throughout the three-round contest. He won the first round 4-1 before producing another strong display in the second round to take it 5-0.
The Indian boxer continued to rely on his counter-punching and movement in the final round. He outscored Kim 4-1 to complete a 4-0 victory and secure the gold medal. The official scorecards also reflected Ankush’s dominance, with four judges ruling in his favour while one judge scored the bout level.
The victory also marked a significant milestone for Indian men’s boxing. Ankush became the first Indian male boxer to win an Asian Games gold medal since Amit Panghal’s triumph in 2018.
India complete boxing campaign with three Gold medals
Ankush’s gold came after Lovlina Borgohain and Parveen Hooda had already secured titles earlier in the day, giving India three boxing gold medals at the Aichi-Nagoya Games. Lovlina won the women’s 75kg final by defeating China’s Ziyi Bao 5-0. The Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist secured her first Asian Games gold after winning silver at the 2022 Hangzhou Games. Her victory also ended India’s 12-year wait for a women’s boxing gold at the Asian Games.
Parveen Hooda also secured gold in the women’s 65kg category after beating Chinese Taipei’s Chen Nien-Chin 3-2 in a closely fought final. She won the opening round 5-0, lost the second by the same score before edging the final round 3-2 to claim the title.
With the three gold medals, India finished its boxing campaign with six medals, three gold and three bronze.
Three bronze medals for India
India’s bronze medal winners were Kapil Pokhariya in the men’s 90kg category, Narender Berwal in the men’s +90kg category and Priya Ghanghas in the women’s 60kg category. All three secured podium finishes after reaching the semifinals.
India had fielded 11 boxers at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games. While three boxers went on to win gold and three secured bronze, the remaining five saw their campaigns end in the earlier rounds.
Sakshi Chaudhary was eliminated in the round of 16 after losing to reigning world champion Alua Balkibekova of Kazakhstan. Preeti Pawar suffered defeat against North Korea’s Pang Chol Mi in the pre-quarterfinals.
Jadumani Singh also exited in the pre-quarterfinals after losing to Philippines’ Carlo Paalam. Sachin Siwach’s campaign ended in the quarterfinals against Japan’s Shunsuke Kitamoto, while Sumit Kundu lost to Iran’s Ali Qasim Al-Sarray in the pre-quarterfinals.
Ankush’s gold therefore capped a memorable day for Indian boxing, with the country’s pugilists producing three gold-medal performances and ending the Aichi-Nagoya campaign with six medals overall.
