Indian Boxing squad at Olympic Games Paris 2024: Schedule, medal chances

Did you know that the cancellation of the boxing event at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, due to the sport being not very likeable among Swedes was a leading factor in the International Olympic Committee (IOC) significantly reducing the role of local organizing committees in conducting the Olympics thereafter?

Such was the legacy of boxing in pioneering the streamlining of the conduct of the Olympics to minimize bias. However, gender equality in the sport was not accomplished until after the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

It was at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London that women first competed in boxing events.

India’s Mary Kom won a bronze medal at the event, marking the first time a woman from India earned an Olympic medal in boxing. This was followed by another bronze medal from Lovlina Borgohain at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Vijender Singh, however, was the one who put India on the world boxing map by winning the first-ever Olympic boxing medal for India with a bronze at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Indian boxers at Paris Olympics

India will be represented by six boxers at the Paris Olympics: two men, Amit Panghal (51kg) and Nishant Dev (71kg), and four women, Nikhat Zareen (50kg), Preeti Pawar (54kg), Jasmine Lamboria (57kg), and Lovlina Borgohain (75kg).

This will be the first time that the number of Indian women boxers exceeds the number of men.

However, Indian boxers faced setbacks when many of the boxers failed to qualify in the initial stages of the qualifying events for the Olympics.

India’s High-Performance Director for Boxing, Bernard Dunne, resigned after several Indian men's boxers failed to secure spots for the Olympics at the Hangzhou Asian Games 2023 and the first World qualifying tournament in Busto Arsizio in March 2024.

To add to the difficulties, Parveen Hooda was suspended from the women’s 57kg category due to a whereabouts failure.

However, things weren’t as bleak as one might have imagined, as Nishant Dev secured the first quota for India in men’s boxing in the second World Olympic Boxing Qualification tournament in Bangkok, achieving a commanding victory against a Cuban boxer.

Soon Amit Panghal and Jaismine Lamboria followed suit by winning their respective bouts in the same tournament and securing spots for Paris 2024.

Amit Panghal, who faced severe challenges after his first-round exit at the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Olympics in 2021, had to fight his way through to qualify for the Games. Once given the chance, he seized the opportunity and secured his ticket to Paris.

Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Jaismine Lamboria, who was initially a reserve in the 60kg category for the Olympic qualifier in Bangkok, reduced her weight to 57kg to fill the quota left vacant by Parveen's whereabouts failure.

Jaismine secured her quota in style by putting up a clinical performance at the qualification tournament in Bangkok.

The trio from the Asian Games

Nikhat, Lovlina, and Preeti secured their quota places in the Asian Games last year. The reigning world champion in the women’s 50kg category, Nikhat secured her quota at the Asian Games last year by winning her quarterfinal bout.

Lovlina also earned her quota at the Asian Games, but unlike Nikhat, she had to transform herself in order to compete at the Olympics. Since the welterweight category (69kg) was removed after the Tokyo Olympics, where Lovlina won a bronze medal, she had to move up to the 75kg weight class.

This change did not affect her fighting style, as she secured a ticket to the Olympics by winning a silver medal at the Asian Games. Like Nikhat, Lovlina is also a world champion in the. However, she achieved the feat in the middleweight category.

Finally, the 19-year-old southpaw Preeti booked her ticket to Paris in the women’s 54kg category by reaching the semifinals at the Asian Games last year. She will be the only teenager to represent India in boxing at the Paris Olympics.

Schedule of Indian Boxers (Indian Standard Time)

Amit Panghal (Men’s 51kg)

• 28th July (Round of 32): 2:30 PM
• 30th July (Round of 16 - If qualified): 2:30 PM to 11:30 PM
• 2nd August or 3rd August (Quarter Finals - If qualified): 8:04 PM or 12:34 AM
• 4th August (Semifinal - If qualified): 3:50 PM or 8:20 PM
• 9th August (Final - If qualified): 2:04 AM

Nishant Dev (Men’s 71kg)

• 28th July (Round of 32): 3:02 PM to 11.30 PM
• 31st July or 1st August (Round of 16 - If qualified): 3:02 PM to 8:20 PM or 12:18 AM to 12:50 AM
• 2nd August or 4th August (Quarter Finals - If qualified): 7:32 PM or 12:02 AM
• 7th August (Semifinal - If qualified): 1:00 AM or 1:16 AM
• 10th August (Final - If qualified): 1:00 AM

Nikhat Zareen (Women’s 50kg)

• 28th July or 29th July (Round of 32): 4:06 PM to 8:36 PM or 12:34 AM
• 1st August (Round of 16 - If qualified): 2:30 PM to 11:46 PM
• 3rd August or 4th August (Quarter Finals - If qualified): 8:04 PM or 12:34 AM
• 7th August (Semifinal - If qualified): 1:32 AM or 1:48 AM
• 10th August (Final - If qualified): 1:17 AM

Preeti Pawar (Women’s 54kg)

• 27th July (Round of 32): 7:00 PM to 7:32 PM or 11:30 PM to 12:02 AM
• 30th July or 31st July (Round of 16 - If qualified): 3:50 PM to 8:52 PM or 1:06 AM
• 1st August or 2nd August (Quarter Finals - If qualified): 4:06 PM to 8:52 PM or 12:34 AM
• 4th August (Semifinal - If qualified): 3:34 PM or 8:04 PM
• 9th August (Final - If qualified): 2:21 AM

Jaismine Lamboria (Women’s 57kg)

• 30th July or 31st July (Round of 32): 4:38 PM to 9:24 PM or 1:38 AM
• 2nd August (Round of 16 - If qualified): 7:00 PM to 12:18 AM
• 4th August (Quarter Finals - If qualified): 2:30 PM or 7:00 PM
• 8th August (Semifinal - If qualified): 1:00 AM or 1:16 AM
• 11th August (Final - If qualified): 1:00 AM

Lovlina Borgohain (Women’s 75kg)

• 31st July or 1st August (Round of 16): 3:34 PM to 8:52 PM or 1:06 AM
• 4th August (Quarter Finals - If qualified): 3:02 PM or 7:32 PM
• 9th August (Semifinal - If qualified): 1:32 AM or 1:48 AM
• 11th August (Final - If qualified): 1:46 AM

Medal Hopes and Tough Rivals

Each of the six boxers has the potential to win a medal for India in the upcoming Olympics, as all have an international medal under their belt. However, it remains to be seen how far Indian boxers can advance, as they might face some formidable opponents on their way to securing an Olympic medal for India.

Amit may again spar with former Olympic champion Hasanboy Dusmatov whom he has defeated earlier.

He might also come across the local boxer Billal Bennama, a three-time World Championship medallist, Thai Boxer and Asian Games silver medallist Thitisan Panmod, Tokyo Olympic Bronze medallist Saken Bibossinov, and European Champion Samet Gumus from Turkey.

Nishant Dev, who will be making his Olympic debut in Paris will eye for a medal.

But he may come across some tough opponents such as Serbian boxer Vahid Abasov, who is a silver medallist in the European Games, Sewon Okazawa from Japan, the Asian Games champion; Asadkhuja Muydinkhujaev, the 2023 World welterweight champion from Uzbekistan; Aslanbek Shymbergenov, the world light middleweight champion from Kazakhstan; American, Omari Jones, silver medallist from the 2021 World Championships; and the Irishman Aidan Walsh, the bronze medallist in welterweight from the 2020 Olympics."

The Indian women, too, have their fair share of worthy opponents they will have to fight through before they can stand a chance for a podium finish.

Nikhat has some fierce competition in her weight class with several notable boxers including including Turkey's Buse Naz Cakiroglu, the 2020 Olympic silver medallist and defending European champion, Giordana Sorrentino from Italy, European Games bronze medallist; and Ingrit Valencia, a World and Olympic medallist from Colombia, coming in her way.

After switching her weight class, Lovlina will once again want to secure an Olympic medal.

Her weight class has some world beaters which include Davina Michel, the Worlds bronze medallist from France; Irish boxer Aoife O’Rourke, European Games champion; Khadija El-Mardi World champion from Morocco, Li Qian, the Asian Games gold medallist from China.

Jasmine who performed well after moving from 60 kg to 57kg will have to perform well against some excellent boxers such as Irma Testa, the Olympic bronze medallist from Italy, Irish boxer Michaela Walsh, a Commonwealth Games Champion, and Lin Yu-Ting, the Asian Games gold medallist from Chinese Taipei.

The Youngest of the bunch Preeti would want to pack a punch in her debut Olympics against some tough opponents such as Stanimira Petrova, the European Games gold medallist, former world champion from Turkey Hatice Abbas, and Asian Games Champion Pang Chol-mi from North Korea.