Aichi-Nagoya, 29 September (H.S.): Indian boxer Parveen Hooda has advanced to the final of the women’s 65kg category at the Asian Games 2026. In the semi-final held at the Nishio Gymnasium on Tuesday, Parveen defeated China’s Li Shu by a unanimous 5-0 decision.

Parveen maintained her dominance throughout all three rounds of the bout. She adopted an aggressive approach from the outset and gave Li Shu little opportunity to stage a comeback. The judges unanimously awarded the contest to the Indian boxer.

With the victory, Parveen has secured at least a silver medal and will now face Chen Nien-Chin of Chinese Taipei for the gold medal on Friday.

Parveen had earlier defeated Uzbekistan’s Navbahor Khamidova 5-0 in the quarter-final. Khamidova is a silver medallist from the 2025 World Championships. Parveen had received a walkover in the opening round.

At the previous Asian Games, Parveen had won a bronze medal. However, she was later stripped of the medal following a whereabouts rule violation covering the period from April 2022 to March 2023. After completing her suspension, she made a comeback by winning gold at the World Boxing Cup Finals in late 2025. She subsequently suffered a narrow defeat against Sacha Hickey in her opening bout at the Commonwealth Games.

The Indian boxing team had won four medals at the previous Asian Games in Hangzhou, including one silver and three bronze medals. This time, several Indian boxers have already advanced to the medal rounds.

In the men’s 80kg category, Ankush Panghal has also reached the semi-finals, while Narendra Berwal has advanced to the last four in the men’s over-90kg category. Other members of the Indian boxing team also remain in contention for medals across various weight categories.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar