Indian boxing at Paris: Near misses and hearts won but no medals to show

The Indian boxing contingent that arrived in Paris was brimming with hope.

Lovlina Borgohain had the experience of winning bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Nikhat Zareen walked in as the two-time IBA Women's World Boxing Championships winner, having won gold in 2022 and 2023.

Also, Nishant Dev had won bronze at the 2023 World Championships and Amit Panghal possessed a silver medal from the 2019 AIBA World Boxing Championships.

The experience was there and undoubtedly, the capability as well.

But when the dust settled, there was sadly nothing to show on the medals tally with all of India's pugilists exiting in the quarterfinals or earlier.

So near yet so far

“Ups and downs are a part of life. Always believe in one thing, ‘rab jo karda changa hi karda’ (whatever god does, it is for your own good)”

Words of consolation from Vijender Singh, India's first Olympic medalist in boxing.

India's biggest chance fell to Lovlina Borgohain and Nishant Dev, who qualified for the quarterfinals and were both just one win away from confirming a bronze medal a piece for India at the Paris Olympics.

Unfortunately, that was not to be as both lost their respective bouts.

For Nishant Dev, the agony of the loss will hurt even more, considering the way he played and how the result turned out to be.

The bout ended with the judges ruling 4-1 in favor of the Mexican, leading to outrage from the Indian boxing community, alleging that Nishant should have been the winner.

Like many others, Vijender too was surprised with the results of Nishant Dev's bout against Mexican Marco Verde in the quarterfinals.

"Nishant had a very good fight, a close fight. I did not expect that the result will not be in his favor," he said, in an exclusive interview with The Bridge.

“I think we should protest against this decision. The scoring should be checked again i.e. the judges should go through it again and then make the decision final. In the last Olympics, Vikas Krishnan Yadav fought against the USA and won but the USA authority protested, paid the fine, and the decision was overturned," he added.

A promising performance

Olympic bronze medalist at the 2008 Beijing Olympics Vijender Singh had nothing but kind words for all the Indian boxers who participated in the Paris Olympics.

"The girls performed really well, Preeti did very well considering it was her first Olympics. The way she managed, with full confidence, looked promising to watch," he said.

He also had words of praise of Jasmine Lamboria.

"Jasmine also played well but felt like the boxer from the Philippines (Nesthy Petecio) was really amazing. Sometimes you get tough opponents, so you need to respect them and accept the fact that she is better."

Meanwhile, Preeti Pawar, 20, in her maiden Olympics, managed to reach the round of 16 but lost to Colombian Yeni Arias 3-2 in a rather close affair.

And there was Nikhat Zareen, one of India's biggest medal hopefuls in Paris. Unfortunately, a tough draw meant that she faced a tough challenge against China's Wu Yu in the round of 16.

The Chinese was a formidable opponent and Nikhat succumbed to a 0-5 loss.

Amit Panghal's outing was disappointing as well.

He would lose in his first bout to Patrick Chinyemba of Zambia 5-0 after a spirited performance from the Zambian who proved to be too quick for Amit to handle.

"Amit also played well, the other guy I feel had a height advantage and he played with a lot of confidence. Amit, on the other hand, tried to cope well, but he did not do it in the long range," Vijender observed.

Despite returning empty handed, the boxing fraternity will take heart from fact the Indian pugilists gave it their all in Paris.

Vijender has a special word of advise for Nishant Dev.

"You play so well, we are so proud of you and we love you, keep your training going, ‘Apna time aayega’ (Our time will come), now or later.”

According to Vijender, upsets are bound to happen and thus, looking ahead was an important part of the development process.

"These things happen, don’t let these things crawl all over your mind and focus on preparing for the next Olympics. Train hard, that’s it, nothing else because without hard work, you cannot do any," he said in conclusion.