From scratched to upgraded medal, Parveen's redemption punch

Around two months ago, with Indian women basking in the spotlight of a record boxing haul from the Commonwealth Games (CWG), Parveen Hooda returned as the only female boxer without a medal. Around three years ago, she returned from the Asian Games with a 57kg bronze, only for it to be scratched.

All through those months of serving a doping suspension for whereabouts failures, Parveen prayed for another opportunity. All through this month-and-a-half of the quick CWG-Asian Games turnaround, she quietly worked behind the scenes towards another opportunity.

And when it came at the Nishio Gymnasium in Aichi, it pushed Parveen's redemption arc at the 2026 Asian Games.

The pugilist from Haryana defeated China's Li Shu 5-0 in the 65kg semi-final on Tuesday to enter the final with aplomb and confirm a better medal than the one taken away from Hangzhou.

The Indian boxing contingent, as a whole, has already bettered its Hangzhou show, which had three bronze and a silver. From the six assured medals, Ankush produced a brilliant turnaround after losing the first round to stun reigning world champion Fazliddin Erkinboev of Uzbekistan 4-1 in their 80kg semi-final. With three more Indian semi-finalists in action on Wednesday, there could be more finalists.

Parveen will be one of them. It won't be easy against Chinese Taipei's Olympic and Worlds medallist Chen Nien-chin. But nothing has been easy for this 26-year-old over the past couple of years. Be it the frustration of serving a doping suspension while watching the Paris Olympics slip away, or switching weight categories upon return, or staying patient even as success at CWG level – relatively less challenging than Asian – eluded her.

"She's been excellent," Santiago Nieva, the women's team head coach, told HT from Aichi.

"She's making great improvements. She has learnt a lot from the couple of competitions in which she lost before, and put in a lot of effort in the camp."

Maximum effort went into correcting an evident technical glitch in this relatively new 65kg boxer. Parveen, a dangerous counter-attacker in 57kg, had the habit of rushing into attacks and losing her shape at times. Against taller and stronger opponents in 65kg, getting into "messy and wrestling type" positions, as Nieva put it, was detrimental for Parveen.

"She had a tendency to rush her attacks and fall in too much," Nieva said. "Now she has more patience, better balance, better attack positions from the centre instead of getting too close, and better footwork. She is now much more in control."

Control is something Parveen felt she had lost of her career two years ago. The whereabouts failure and the backdated 14-month suspension took her Asian Games medal, the Paris Games quota, and progress in 57kg.

The pugilist from Rurki continued to show up at the ring to train, yet without knowing for what.

ALSO READ: From hospital bed to podium finish: Who is Neeru Dhanda, India's first individual gold medallist of Asian Games 2026?

“All through last year, I prayed that somehow I get a chance to represent India in an event like this again. I had plenty of doubts about whether it could happen, because I was out for a long time,” Parveen had told HT during the CWG.

“Look, that was a long time ago. We can’t change what happened in the past,” said Nieva, India's former high-performance director who returned to the setup late last year. “What we could change was her weight category, and how she could box against those stronger, slower opponents."

Parveen made her competitive return last October in 60kg, and won the World Boxing Cup Finals gold. With a spot in that category sealed, she decided to move up to 65kg. The switch demanded patience from her, even after a fruitless CWG where every other Indian woman participant got the sweet taste of medals.

“I don’t look at boxers who win and those who lose. We look at mistakes and areas of improvement,” said Nieva. “In her case, there were some clear things that if she could improve, she could be much better. And we can see that at these Asian Games.”

Also worth seeing will be Ankush in the final, against South Korea’s Kim Minseong. The 21-year-old is among three of India’s six assured medallists competing in their first Asian Games.

Narender Berwal won his second Asian Games medal, a bronze in the +90kg after losing the semi-final to Kazakhstan's Aibek Oralbay 5-0.