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Three years on from the postponed Tokyo Olympics, a total of six Indian boxers will compete at the Paris Olympics that get underway on 26 July.qualified. read more
 "Who has qualified for the Olympics and how did they make it? Can India win a medal?")
Amit Panghal (Right_ has participated in limited tournaments since the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, including the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. Reuters
Come the 2024 Paris Olympics in July, India will hope to better their tally of seven medals from the Tokyo Games three years ago. Apart from a larger focus on shuttlers, wrestlers, shooters as well as the India men’s hockey team, there will be quite a few Indian boxers who will hope to steal the limelight and bring Olympic medals to the country.
Historically India have won only three medals in boxing. Vijender Singh was the first to win a medal at the Olympics when he won bronze in Beijing in 2008. Four years later, MC Mary Kom etched her name in the history books by becoming the first Indian woman boxer to clinch an Olympic medal, when she won bronze in the 2012 Olympics in London.
Paris Olympics | All Indian athletes who have qualified for Summer Games
Only three Indian boxers participated in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro — Shiva Thapa, Manoj Kumar and Vikas Krishan Yadav, but all three came empty handed.
At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, India sent nine boxers for the Games but only one could win a medal. That was Lovlina Borgohain, who won a bronze medal after going down to world champion Busenaz Surmeneli of Turkey in the semi-finals.
Three years on from the postponed Tokyo Olympics, a total of six boxers will compete at the Paris Olympics that gets underway on 26 July. Let’s take a look at all those Indian boxers who will fly to France for the Olympics, and how they qualified:
Who is going to Paris?
Four female and two male boxers from India have qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics. Nikhat Zareen (50 kg), Preeti Pawar (54 kg), Jaismine Lamboria (57 kg) and Lovlina Borgohain (74 kg) are the women boxers who have qualified whereas Amit Panghal (51 kg) and Nishant Dev (71 kg) are the only men to have done so.
Nikhat Zareen
Nikhat Zareen won an Olympic quota during the Asian Games in Hangzhou last year. She had reached the semi-finals of the 2022 Asian Games, where she eventually lost to Thailand’s Raksat Chuthamat. However, even by reaching the semi-finals of the Asian Games, she had secured a quota for Paris Olympics.
The road to Paris has not been easy for the 28 year-old. She has had to go through several injuries and hardships, but would go onto win consecutive gold medals at the Boxing World Championships in 2022 and 2023. “When India’s campaign in the Tokyo Olympics ended, that day I decided to channel my focus into preparing for Paris 2024. I also posted a picture on social media about the countdown to the Olympics,” Nikhat recently said on JioCinema’s The Dreamers show.
“I think everyone has their moment, and this is my moment. Whoever said I wouldn’t make it to Paris 2024, I finally made it. I’ll take all the negativity and positivity around me positively, try to get better, and come as a different fighter inside the ring in Paris,” she added.
Preeti Pawar
Like Zareen, Preeti Pawar secured an Olympic quota for the Paris Olympics during the 2022 Asian Games. She takes part in the 54 kg category as was the case at the Asian Games last year, when she had beaten Kazakhstan’s Zhaina Shekerbekova to not only reach the semi-finals, but also earn herself a Paris Olympics quota.
In the semi-final of the Asian Games, however, Preeti went down to China’s Yuan Chang and eventually clinch a bronze medal.
Lovlina Borgohain
Borgohain will be one of the favourites to win a medal at Paris Olympics. She had won the bronze medal in Tokyo three years back. That was in the 69 kg category, but this time, Lovlina will compete in the 74 kg category.
Lovlina had won an Olympic quota as she won a silver medal at the Asian Games last year in the 75 kg category. As far as recent results are concerned, the 26 year-old is coming on the back of a silver medal at the Czech Grand Prix in June. Last year, she had also won gold in the middleweight category at the World Championships in Delhi.
Jaismine Lamboria
Jaismine Lamboria was not even in the picture for Paris Olympics qualification up until recently. Earlier this year, Parveeen Hooda, who had initially secured an Olympic quota in the women’s 57 kg category, had been suspended by World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) for a whereabouts failure over a 12-month period.
That opened up a window of opportunity for Jaismine , who defeated Marine Camara of Mali in the quarter-finals of the World Boxing Qualifiers in Bangkok earlier in June.
Nishant Dev
Nishant Dev became the first men’s pugilist to secure a Paris Olympics quota. He secured the quota after he made the semi-finals of the men’s 71 kg category at the World Olympic Boxing Qualifiers in Bangkok recently. He defeated Vasile Cebotari 5-0 in the quota bout at the Olympic Boxing Qualifiers.
Amit Panghal
Amit Panghal acquired a ticket to the Paris Olympics with a unanimous 5-0 win over China’s Liu Chuang at the World Boxing Qualifiers in Bangkok. Panghal, however, has faced quite a few challenges in his road to Paris. He lost his place in the Indian national boxing team due to the Boxing Federation of India’s (BFI) evaluation system, which went to Deepak Bhoria, world championships bronze medallist.
Ever since the Tokyo Olympics, the only major competition Panghal participated was the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, where he won gold.
Earlier this year, Panghal also won gold at the Strandja Memorial tournament.
Is a medal possible?
India would hope for at least a medal in boxing at the Paris Olympics, given the form some of these boxers have been in. Lovlina Borgohain will undoubtedly be one of the top favourites and this time around, she will hope to go all the way and win a potential gold medal.
Amit Panghal, a two-time Commonwealth Games medallist is also another contender but it remains to be seen how far he can go. At the Tokyo Olympics, Amit suffered a last-16 exit after losing to Yuberjen Martinez of Colombia.
Also adding to Amit’s woes is the lack of bout time he has had at major tournaments since the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
Zareen looks like another promising candidate to win a medal at the Olympics. She won a gold medal at the Elorda Cup in Kazakhstan recently and that will put her in good stead in her bid to go all the way in Paris. But, it’s easier said than done.
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