Nishio, Sep 24 (IANS): Indian boxer Parveen made it to the quarterfinals of the Women’s 65kg category after receiving a walkover from Tajikistan’s Malika Nozimova in the round of 16 at the Nishio Gymnasium on Thursday here.
Parveen, whose bronze medal was taken off her at the Hangzhou Games, is now one win away from securing a medal at the Aichi-Nagoya Games 2026. She will be facing reigning world silver medallist Navbakhor Khamidova of Uzbekistan in the quarterfinals for a place in the semis.
Meanwhile, India’s Commonwealth Games champions Sakshi Chaudhary bowed out of the Asian Games after her loss in the Women’s 51kg pre-quarters to reigning world champion Alua Balkibekova 2-3. The Indian pugilist put up a strong fight for a place in the quarterfinals but lost the bout on three 27-30 cards and had two 30-27 and 29-28 cards in her favour.
Another Indian boxer, Sumit, was also in action in the Men’s 79kg round of 16 bout. He was leading the bout after winning both the first two rounds, but suffered an injury early in the third round and lost the contest as the referee stopped it. The Indian boxer wasn’t even able to walk in what seemed to be a suspected knee injury.
Talking about Parveen, the Haryana-born is a 2022 Asian Champion in the 63kg category. She had moved down to 57kg for the 2023 Asiad and had initially secured a bronze medal and an Olympics quota for India. However, both those achievements were taken away from her after she was handed a suspension by WADA for three whereabouts failures within a 12-month period. She would be hoping to get the medal this time around.
Meanwhile, Sakshi is a CWG 2026 gold medallist, having made her name in the boxing circuit. Sakshi had defeated Paris Olympics bronze winner Aira Villegas in the preliminary round at the Asian Games 2026 to march into the pre-quarters.
Chaudhary outclassed the Filipino pugilist by a unanimous decision of 5-0 as she displayed a stellar performance on her Asian Games debut at the Nishio Gymnasium.
Sakshi is already a renowned pugilist and has defeated some of the giants of the game. She got the better of two-time world champion Nikhat Zareen and reigning world champion Minakshi Hooda in the selection trials for the Commonwealth Games 2026. Dropping from 54kg, she defeated Nikhat in the semifinals of the trials, while she beat 48kg champion Hooda in the final to earn a ticket for CWH 2026.
