Nikhat Zareen leads Indian women boxers into Asian Championships

Indian women boxers, led by Nikhat Zareen, are preparing for the Asian Boxing Championships in Mongolia from March 28 to April 11. With strong recent performances, Parveen Hooda and Minakshi Hooda also aim for medals ahead of the Asian Games

Hyderabad: Fresh from impressive performances at the World Boxing Cup Finals at Greater Noida in November 2025, Indian women pugilists are targeting a rich medal haul at the upcoming Asian Boxing Championships in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, from March 28 to April 11, in the build-up to the Asian Games later this year.

Led by Nikhat Zareen (51kg) and Jaismine Lamboria (57kg), the Indian women boxers dominated the World Boxing Cup Finals, winning seven out of the ten possible gold medals. The other gold medallists were Minakshi Hooda (48kg), Preeti Pawar (54kg), Parveen Hooda (60kg), Arundhati Choudhary (70kg) and Nupur Sheoran (80+kg).

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Currently, these pugilists are training at the Netaji Subhash National Institute of Sports (NSNIS), Patiala, as part of the national camp supported under the Sports Authority of India’s (SAI) Annual Calendar for Training & Competition (ACTC) in collaboration with the Boxing Federation of India (BFI).

Nikhat made a strong comeback from a six-month injury layoff due to a meniscus tear at the 2025 World Championship in Liverpool, where she reached the quarter-finals after her disappointment at the Paris 2024 Olympics. Her gold at the World Boxing Cup Finals gave her a much-needed morale boost.

“I was very happy to end 2025 with a gold medal. I began the new year on a winning note, emerging as the national champion at the Senior Nationals. It gives me immense pleasure to be back in form and delivering consistently. 2026 is very important and hopefully I will win gold in all the major events to make India proud,” Nikhat told SAI Media.

Sparring with male boxers and making crucial changes to her technique has helped her as she prepares for multi-discipline events like the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow (July 23 to August 2, 2026) and the Asian Games in Aichi Nagoya, Japan (September 19 to October 4, 2026).

“I have worked on my past mistakes. I sparred with different styles of boxers in the last few months. After Paris 2024, when I returned from injury, I trained at the Army Sports Institute in Pune, sparring with junior and male boxers. That helped me a lot. I regularly discuss my mistakes with coaches and work on different aspects of my boxing, which has improved my results,” explained the 29-year-old, who is supported under the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS).

Parveen Hooda, who has previously won gold at the Asian Championships and bronze at the World Championships, said defeating Poland’s World Championships silver medallist Aneta Rygielska in the semi-finals and Olympian Ayaka Taguchi of Japan in the final was the highlight of her World Boxing Cup Finals campaign.

“World Cup Finals was my comeback event after a long injury break. My opponents were very accomplished boxers, so the event was very good for me,” Parveen told SAI Media.

She further said that the appointment of Argentine-born Swede Santiago Nieva as head coach of the women’s boxing team has improved her performance. Nieva was the former High Performance Director for Indian boxing from 2017 to 2021.

“Santiago sir’s periodisation plans and focus on fitness and technique have been very useful for me and other boxers. It has improved our confidence. I have also worked on my strength. Earlier, I felt my punches lacked power, but now it is better. Next month we have the Asian Championships and later the Commonwealth and Asian Games, so we have to peak at the right time,” said the 25-year-old.

World Champion in the 48kg category, Minakshi Hooda, 24, is working on her footwork to win gold at upcoming events. She registered India’s first gold at the World Boxing Cup Finals after beating Uzbekistan’s Fozilova Farzona.

“Last year I played many international events and won gold in several. With big events like the Asian Games coming up, I am working on my footwork and leg strength. My natural game is to tire opponents by moving around the ring. Footwork is crucial to finish three rounds without giving rivals a chance to score. With the new coach and training regime, I am confident of winning a medal at the Asian Games in Japan,” Minakshi told SAI Media.