Hyderabad: The sports fans will be fastening their seat belts to venture on an exciting sports journey as the Paris Olympics are going to commence by the end of this month. July 26 is the date when the opening ceremony will mark the resumption of the Games and India will be heading with a contingent of around 110 athletes.
Boxing has been contested in each edition of the Olympics since its introduction at the 1904 Summer Games. 1912 was an exception as the Swedish law banned the sport and it wasn’t part of the Olympics. Since 2012, women’s boxing has also become part of the program. The discipline has witnessed a lot of changes in the weight category and there will be 13 weight categories in the Paris Games.
Male boxers will feature in seven weight classes while female pugilists will feature in six weight classes. One of the weight categories is reduced from the previous edition in men’s boxing while women’s boxing has seen an increase in the weight categories by one.
USA is the most successful nation in the discipline winning 117 medals in total including 50 gold medals. Cuba is in second place with 78 medals while Great Britain has 62 medals to their name.
- Indian Contingent
Nikhat Zareen (Women’s 50 Kg)
Zareen won an Olympic quota during the Asian Games 2022 by making it to the semi-final of the competition. She suffered a defeat against Thailand’s Raksat Chuthamat but the semi-final run was good enough to secure a place in the Paris Games. The pugilist suffered several injuries last year but she overcame hardships and won two consecutive gold medals in the Boxing World Championships in 2022 and 2023.
Zareen has been in good form this year and her performances ignite a glimmer of hope of an Olympic medal. She won a silver in the Strandja Memorial tournament played in February in Bulgaria and won the Ellorda Cup played last month. The 28-year-old is a two-time World Champion but a tough challenge to win her maiden Olympic medal awaits her in Paris.
Preeti Pawar (Women’s 54 Kg)
Preeti also secured an Olympic place in the Asian Games. Her victory against Kazakhstan’s Zhaina Shekerbekova in the quarter-final was the one which assured a place for her in the Olympic Games. However, in the Semis, Preeti conceded a loss against China’s Yuan Chang but won a bronze medal.
The youngest sensation amongst the pack of Indian boxers has shown commendable skill and temperament levels required at the global stage to achieve monumental landmarks. Ranked 35th in the world, Preeti will have to punch above her weight to outplay the best in the business and carve a path to the Olympic medal.
Lovlina Borgohain (Women’s 75 Kg)
Lovlina has become a popular name in the boxing world as the experienced pugilist has three World Championship medals to her credit and an Olympic bronze which showcases her ability to excel at the global stage. When the middleweight boxer is in the boxing ring in Paris, her goal will be to change the colour of the medal, preferably gold. But, the challenge will be tougher for the Indian pugilist this time as she won the bronze in the 69 Kg category last time but will now compete in the 75 Kg.
Talking about her form, she won a silver medal at the Grand Prix 2024 in the Czech Republic. She is placed at Number 4 in the world rankings right now and it might play in her favour when the draws are out. The challenge will be much bigger for Lovlina as she will be competing in a higher weight category as compared to the previous edition, but a second medal in a row might be on the cards considering, she will be India’s brightest prospect in Boxing.
Jasmine Lamboria (Women’s 57 Kg)
The lightweight boxer wasn’t even in the fray for the Olympic qualification till recently. The suspension of Parveen Hooda by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) for whereabouts failure opened up the opportunity to make a maiden appearance in the Olympics. She outplayed Marine Camara of Mali in the quarterfinals of the World Boxing Qualifiers in June and seized the opportunity.
Placed at 22nd position in the world rankings, Jasmine bagging a medal is a slim possibility but she will get the experience of playing amongst the top performers of the game in Paris for sure.
Nishant Dev (Men’s 71 kg)
World Olympic Qualifiers in Bangkok was the competition where Nishant earned the first quota in men’s boxing for India. He defeated Vasile Cebotari by 5-0 in the quota bout. Ranked seventh in the world, Nishant will be eyeing to secure his first Olympic medal. Nishant won a bronze medal in the 2023 boxing championships.
Amit Panghal (Men’s 51 Kg)
Panghal acquired the Olympic quota through the World Boxing Qualifiers in Bangkok as he beat China’s Liu Chuang by 5-0. The Indian boxer faced a lot of challenges on his road to Paris as he lost his place in the Indian boxing team due to the Boxing Federation of India’s (BFI) evaluation system.
An issue of concern for Panghal is that he has participated in only one major competition since the Tokyo Olympics which was the 2022 Commonwealth Games. He bagged a gold in the games. He also won gold at the Strandja Memorial tournament and a power-packed performance can make him a contender to earn a medal.
- India’s past performance In Boxing
India’s first appearance in boxing was the 1948 edition when a total of seven Indian boxers represented the country. Babu Lall, in men's bantamweight (54kg), inked India’s first Olympic victory in boxing beating Allan Monteiro of Pakistan in the Round of 32. However, Indian boxing failed to capitalise on a bright start and failed to qualify for the next four Olympic editions.
The drought was finally broken in 1972 in Munich as three Indian boxers made it to the carnival of sports. Since then, India has been participating in each and every edition. But, the country started showing its potential in 2008 as star boxer Vijender Singh won a bronze medal in the flyweight (51 Kg category) in the Beijing Games.
Six-time World Champion Mary Kom also bagged a bronze in the 2012 London Games in the flyweight category. Lovlina Borgohain secured a podium finish in Tokyo 2020 and won the bronze medal in the welterweight (69kg) category.
- Basic Rules
Each bout is played over three rounds of three minutes each for men and four rounds of two minutes each for women. The loser of the round can be awarded anywhere between seven to nine points by the judges and the scores are summed up at the end of the bout. A boxer can score a victory in two ways - via knockout (KO) or via points. If he knocks down the opponent on the floor or if fails to get up till the count of 10, it’s a victory by KO.
Five Judges sitting on the ringside give scores to both the boxers based on the domination in the bout, technical and tactical superiority and the number of punches landing on the target. The scores are then summed up by the end of the bout and the pugilist with the most number of points wins the bout.
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