Indian boxer Preeti Pawar defeated Paris 2024 Olympic bronze medallist Aeji Im of the Republic of Korea to book her place in the women’s 54kg final at the Asian Boxing Championships 2026 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, on Monday.
Preeti Pawar dominated all three rounds against Aeji Im to secure a 5-0 victory by unanimous decision. She will now face Chinese Taipei’s Huang Hsiao-wen, a three-time boxing world champion and Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist, for gold.
According to the Boxing Federation of India’s selection process, boxers who reach the finals at the Asian Boxing Championships 2026 secure direct qualification for the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games.
Former world champion Nikhat Zareen (women’s 51kg), Olympic medallist Lovlina Borgohain (women’s 75kg) and Olympian Pooja Rani (women’s 80kg) lost their respective semi-finals with identical 5-0 margins and settled for bronze medals.
Nikhat went down to the People’s Republic of China’s Paris 2024 champion, Wu Yu. while Lovlina suffered defeat to Uzbekistan’s Aziza Zokirova. Pooja Rani bowed out after a loss to Kazakhstan’s Nadezhda Ryabets. Both Aziza and Ryabets are World Championship medallists.
Priya (women’s 60kg) and Arundhati Choudhary (women’s 70kg) made the title bouts, easing past their respective semifinal opponents in Ulaanbaatar.
Priya defeated Mongolia’s Namuun Monkhor by a 5-0 unanimous decision. She will now take on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s Un Gyong Won in the title bout.
Arundhati impressed with a 4-1 victory over Uzbekistan’s Oysha Toirova and is set to face Kazakhstan’s Bakyt Seidish for the gold medal.
In the women’s 65kg category, Ankushita Boro went down 3-0 to Chinese Taipei’s Paris 2024 bronze medallist Nien-Chin Chen in the semi-finals.
More Indian boxers will compete in the semi-finals, including world champions Minakshi Hooda and Jaismine Lamboria in the women’s 48kg and 57kg categories, respectively. India also have six boxers in the semi-finals of the men’s events.
READ MORE: https://www.olympics.com/en/news/asian-boxing-championships-2026-india-day-8-report
