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Olympic bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain and rising star Sakshi Chaudhary secured their places in the Indian boxing team for the upcoming Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games with wins at the national trials in Patiala on Friday.
Borgohain delivered a commanding performance to defeat Sanamacha Chanu 5-0 in the women's 75kg final at the national boxing trials in Patiala. Borgohain had missed an earlier opportunity to secure her berth after failing to reach the final at the Asian Boxing Championships 2026 in Ulaanbaatar last month, as per Olympics.com. Under the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) selection policy, boxers who advanced to the finals of the Asian Boxing Championships secured direct qualification in their respective weight categories for both upcoming multi-sport events. In the women's 51kg category, Sakshi Chaudhary continued her impressive run by defeating reigning 48kg world champion Minakshi Hooda 5-0 in the final, after earlier pulling off a stunning 4-1 upset over two-time world champion Nikhat Zareen in the semi-finals. Minakshi had defeated former world champion and Commonwealth Games 2022 gold medallist Nitu Ghanghas in the semi-finals. Although Hooda clinched gold in the 48kg category at the Asian Boxing Championships, the weight class does not feature in the programmes for either the Asian Games or the Commonwealth Games. As a result, Minakshi moved up to the 51kg division, where her campaign ended with a defeat to Sakshi Chaudhary. Among those who had already secured qualification through the Asian Boxing Championships were Sachin Siwach (men's 60kg), Preeti Pawar (women's 54kg) and Priya Ghanghas (women's 60kg), all of whom reached the finals in Ulaanbaatar. Jaismine Lamboria (women's 57kg), Arundhati Choudhary (women's 70kg) and Aditya Pratap Singh (men's 65kg) secured qualification for the Commonwealth Games only, as their respective categories are not included in the Asian Games programme. World championship bronze medallist Parveen Hooda (women's 65kg) and Narender Berwal (+90kg), the only Indian male boxer to win a medal at the 2023 Asian Games, also emerged victorious in their trials to seal their spots for the Games. The Commonwealth Games 2026, to be held from July 23 to August 2 in Glasgow, will feature 14 boxing events. The Asian Games 2026, scheduled from September 19 to October 4 in Japan's Aichi-Nagoya, will be contested across 11 weight categories. Indian boxing team for Asian Games 2026 Women: Sakshi Chaudhary (51kg), Preeti Pawar (54kg), Priya Ghanghas (60kg), Parveen Hooda (65kg), Lovlina Borgohain (75kg) Men: Jadumani Singh (55 kg), Sachin Siwach (60 kg), Sumit Kundu (70 kg), Ankush (80 kg), Kapil Pokhariya (90 kg), Narender Berwal (+90 kg) Indian boxing team for Commonwealth Games 2026 Women: Sakshi Chaudhary (51kg), Preeti Pawar (54kg), Jaismine Lamboria (57kg), Priya Ghanghas (60kg), Parveen Hooda (65kg), Arundhati Choudhary (70kg), Lovlina Borgohain (75kg) Men: Jadumani Singh (55kg), Sachin Siwach (60kg), Aditya Pratap Singh (65kg), Sumit Kundu (70kg), Ankush (80kg), Kapil Pokhariya (90kg), Narender Berwal (+90kg). (ANI)
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