Indian athletes secure multiple gold medals at 2026 Asian Games

Parveen Hooda won the gold medal at the ongoing Asian Games 2026 in Aichi-Nagoya on Friday. Parveen then eked out a narrow 3-2 split-decision win over Paris Olympic bronze-medallist Chen Nien-chin of Chinese Taipei. Earlier, Parveen defeated China's Li Shu 5-0 in the 65kg semifinal.

With the win in the semifinal Parveen, whose bronze medal from the previous edition was taken away after the International Testing Agency (ITA) suspended her for 22 months for a whereabouts failure, has now surpassed her performance at Hangzhou. She also became only the third Indian female boxer to reach the final after legendary MC Mary Kom, who won the title in 2014, and Lovlina Borgohain, who clinched silver in the previous edition.

Indian boxers have already bettered their four-medal haul from the previous edition, with six pugilists securing medal-round entries here. Last edition's bronze medallist Narender Berwal (+90kg) will fight for a place in the final later in the day. Indian boxers have already bettered their performance from the last edition by assuring six medals in Aichi-Nagoya.

Priya Ghanghas (60kg), Kapil Pokhariya (90kg) and Narender Berwal (+90kg) won bronze medals. India's best-ever boxing performance at the Asian Games came at the Guangzhou 2010 edition, when the contingent won nine medals - two gold, three silver and four bronze. The strong showing in the continental event comes on the back of Indian boxers' record-breaking campaign at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow last month.

The Manipuri legend Lovlina Borgohain had won the flyweight (51kg) title at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon. "Today is my birthday. It's a very special birthday, I'm feeling really good. I thought I'd have to gift a gold medal on my birthday. It's the first time that I got a present for myself.

I gave it my all. I didn't think for a second that I would lose," Lovlina said after the win. "It was a very tough fight. But I was always thinking that I just have to win. The last round was very tough. I was winning by 2-1 in the first and second round. So I thought I have to just win the third round.

"The opponent was very strong. I was playing with her for the first time. So I had no idea how she was going to play. I was motivating myself that I have to win. I don't want to lose." Lovlina made the most of her considerable height advantage, while the 20-year-old Bao constantly tried to close the distance and deny the Indian space to work.