Indian boxers have fetched three medals in the Olympics so far, all bronze. While Vijender Singh remains the only male to have achieved the feat back in the 2008 Beijing Games, women stars M.C. Mary Kom (London, 2012) and Borgohain (Tokyo, 2021) later added to the overall haul.
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World championships bronze medallist Nishant Dev (71kg) has got a favourable draw, while other Indian boxers have got tougher draws in the boxing competitions of the Paris Olympics, starting in the North Paris Arena on Saturday.
World champions Nikhat Zareen (50kg) and Lovlina Borgohain (75kg) have to work harder in order to get closer to medals. Former Worlds silver medallist Amit Panghal (51kg) may have a tricky outing.
Nishant got a bye and will take on Ecuador’s Rodriguez Tenorio in his first bout. If Nishant gets past the Ecuadorian, then he may meet Mexico’s Pan American Games champion Merco Verde in the quarterfinals.
Nikhat will clash with Germany’s Maxi Klotzer in the first round. If she progresses to the second round, then Nikhat will have to fight with top-seeded Chinese Asian Games champion and 52kg World champion Wu Yu. A win over Wu may pit Nikhat against another strong rival, Thailand’s eighth-seeded Asian Games silver medallist Chuthamat Raksat, who had beaten the Indian in the Asian Games semifinals.
Eighth-seeded World champion Lovlina, a 69kg Tokyo bronze medallist, will take on Norway’s Sunniva Hofstad in the first round. If Lovlina reaches the second round, then she is likely to face old rival and top-seeded two-time Olympic medallist Li Qian, who had beaten the Indian in the Asian Games gold-medal match. A win for Lovlina projects the possibility of her duel with either fifth-seeded Worlds silver medallist Caitlin Parker of Australia or Morocco’s World champion fourth-seeded Moroccan Khadija El-Mardi in the quarterfinals
Watch: India’s medal prospects at Paris Olympics 2024
Panghal has received a first-round bye and will meet Commonwealth Games bronze medallist and African Games champion Patrick Chinyemba of Zambia in the second round. If the seasoned Indian, who beat Chinyemba in the semifinals on his way to the Commonwealth gold medal, gets past the Zambian, then he will take on Thailand’s Olympian and Asian Games silver medallist Thitisan Panmot in the quarterfinals.
A win over the Thai may pit the Indian against Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist Kazakh Saken Bibossinov or World champion and former Olympic medallist Uzbek Hasanboy Dusmatov in the semifinals.
Asian Games bronze medallist Preeti Pawar, who had health issues during the camp in Saarbrucken, will fight with Vietnam’s Vo Thi Kim Anh in the first round and Worlds silver medallist Yeni Arias of Colombia. A victory may schedule Preeti’s fight against Korean Olympian Im-Ae-Ji in the last-eight of 54kg.
Jaismine Lamboria will have an uphill task as she squares off against Olympic silver medallist Nesthy Petecio of Philippines in her campaign opener in 57kg. If she scripts an upset, then next up will be Frenchwoman European Games gold medallist Aminia Zidani.
