Nishio, 2 October

Indian boxers delivered a sensational hat-trick of gold medals at the Asian Games with Lovlina Borgohain (75kg), Parveen Hooda (65kg) and Ankush Panghal (80kg) producing contrasting but stirring performances in their respective finals here on Friday.

Lovlina and Parveen ended a 12-year wait by joining legendary MC Mary Kom in the select group of Indian women boxers to have won Asian Games gold. The Manipuri had claimed the flyweight (51kg) title at the 2014 Games in Incheon.

India thus finished atop the boxing medals tally, signing off with six medals, including three golds, its best-ever performance at the Asian Games in terms of gold medals.

Besides the gold, Priya Ghanghas (60kg), Kapil Pokhariya (90kg) and Narender Berwal (+90kg) won bronze medals.

The country's best overall haul came at the Guangzhou 2010 edition, where the contingent won nine medals -- two gold, three silver and four bronze.

Lovlina defeated China's Ziyi Bao 5-0 on her 29th birthday to upgrade the silver she had won at the last edition. Parveen then eked out a narrow 3-2 split-decision win over Paris Olympic bronze-medallist Chen Nien-chin of Chinese Taipei to claim her maiden Asian Games gold.

Ankush then became the first Indian male boxer since Amit Panghal in 2018 to win an Asian Games gold medal.

Lovlina give herself birthday present

"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."

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.

The approach made for a messy contest, with Bao resorting to repeated clinches.

In a departure from her usual approach, Lovlina started aggressively, landing a few punches right away, but Bao was equally fierce with her counters.

The Chinese southpaw connected a couple of combinations, before Lovlina finished the round strongly with some clean, heavy punches to edge it 3-2.

Trailing, Bao came out aggressively in the second round, looking to close the distance, while Lovlina tried to keep her at bay and create room for her punches.

The Indian managed to find her range towards the end of the round, landing a series of clean blows to take it 4-1 on the judges' cards.

The same pattern continued in the final round, with Bao throwing punches in abundance but struggling to land cleanly. Lovlina remained compact in defence and picked her moments to counter.

Having done enough to establish her lead, Lovlina slowed the pace in the closing stages and chose not to engage unnecessarily, keeping Bao at a distance and seeing out the contest.

At the last edition, Lovlina had lost to another Chinese boxer, Li Qian, in the final, settling for silver. This time, she made sure there was no repeat of that result.

Parveen's redemption

The victory marked redemption for Parveen, whose bronze medal from the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games was stripped following a suspension for whereabouts failures, an episode that also derailed her Olympic hopes amid her father's health issues.

"When all that happened to me, whereabouts come, I was mentally down. Everything was over. I had to start from zero. But I was sad for a few days. Then I reset my mind. If I don't train now and don't make a comeback, I will live in regret all my life," she said.

"Because of a small mistake, so much happened. So I decided to take everything the other way around, with interest."

"In Haryana, gold medal winners get the post of deputy director. It was my dream job. So, I just told myself as 'Oh, deputy director. Then I went and took the round in my favor."

Ankush's golden rise

Ankush has steadily emerged as one of India's most promising young boxers and, in his first year on the senior circuit, the 21-year-old added the Asian Games title to the Commonwealth Games gold he won earlier this year.

He put up an assured and dominant display against Kim.

"I was doing well in the training camp for eight months. This is the best year I have seen in 10 years. I got a gold medal. I am feeling good," he said.

"I have seen my opponent's bouts. I practiced according to him. I was confident that I would win. I was never overconfident that I would beat everyone. I just wanted to do my best."

Ankush started on the front foot, landing a couple of early punches before Kim responded. Both looked eager to establish control, making for a fast-paced opening with quick exchanges and sharp movement. Kim then opted to counter, allowing Ankush to take the initiative, and the Indian edged the round 4-1.

Kim came out more aggressively in the second and managed to push Ankush back, but the Indian found ways to escape and responded by landing enough clean punches to take the round unanimously and strengthen his advantage.

Ankush took fewer risks in the final round, using his footwork to make Kim chase him around the ring and take a split-decision victory.