Despite having current world champions like Nikhat Zareen and Lovlina Borgohain, Indian boxers could not perform as expected in the Paris Olympics and had to return without a medal. After Vijender Singh won a historic bronze medal in the Beijing Olympics 2008, Indian boxers were expected to perform well in the Olympics.
Four years later, MC Mary Kom won a bronze medal at the London Olympics. Indian boxers failed to win a medal at the Rio Olympics 2016, but Lovlina managed to win a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics. In this scenario, it was expected that Indian boxers would continue their medal winning streak, but their performance was disappointing.
Sports experts believed that at least one medal, if not two, could be expected from the six boxers who qualified. Two-time world champion Zareen (50kg), Lovlina (75kg) and World Championships 2023 bronze medallist Nishant Dev (71kg) were all considered strong contenders to reach the podium. But when it came to actual competition, the Indian players lacked the required pace.
Nishant can be considered an exception as he was denied a medal due to a controversial result in the quarter-finals. As far as Zareen and Lovlina are concerned, they were seen struggling against their strong opponents. Amit Panghal (51 kg) failed to show his previous form. Lovlina, Panghal and Nishant needed just two wins to secure a medal.
Although Lovlina and Zareen got a tough draw, both of them are the current world champions and hence they were expected to overcome such challenges, but both these boxers easily succumbed to their Chinese opponents. Zareen was considered a contender for the gold medal but she lost to Wu Yu in the second round.
Lovlina had to face defeat from her long-time rival Li Qian of China. Out of the four matches played between these two boxers so far, the Chinese player has won three. In the men’s category, Panghal could not display his fast and aggressive game against Zambia’s Patrick Chinemba. The Zambian boxer also could not advance beyond the second round.
Jasmine Lamboria (57kg) lost to last Olympic Games silver medallist Nesthy Petecio. Preeti Pawar (54kg) gave a tough fight to reigning world silver medallist Yeni Marcela Arias but ultimately lost due to lack of experience.
