India’s 2026 Asian Games Boxing Team: What Has Changed Since the 2022 Medal-Winning Campaign?

Four years can change a lot in boxing. Champions move on, weight categories change, younger fighters emerge, and established names find themselves fighting a very different battle for selection. India's boxing team for the 2026 Asian Games reflects exactly that transition.

The Boxing Federation of India has selected an 11-member squad for Aichi-Nagoya, comprising six men and five women. It is a smaller group than the 13-member contingent India took to the 2022 Asian Games, but there is still a strong connection between the two teams.

India's objective, meanwhile, remains familiar: bring home medals.

India finished ninth on the boxing medal table at the 2022 Asian Games, with one silver and three bronze medals. China dominated the competition with five gold, two silver and two bronze medals, while Uzbekistan finished second with three gold and two bronze. India did not win a boxing gold in Hangzhou, but its four-medal haul still placed it among the tournament's medal-winning nations.

The biggest result came from Lovlina Borgohain, who reached the women's 75 kg final. She defeated South Korea's Seong Su-yeon and Thailand's Baison Manikon before losing to China's Li Qian in the gold-medal bout.

That silver was India's best boxing result at the Games. Nikhat Zareen and Preeti Pawar also reached the podium, winning bronze medals, while Narender Berwal added another bronze in the men's +92 kg category.

The 2026 squad now has the difficult task of matching and ideally improving that performance.

Lovlina remains the biggest link

Of all the names from the 2022 medal-winning team, Lovlina is the clearest connection to India's previous success. She returns in the women's 75kg category, meaning she will once again enter the Asian Games as an established international-level boxer with previous Asian Games medal experience.

Her presence gives India something that cannot be manufactured through a selection camp: familiarity with the scale and pressure of the competition. But the rest of the women's squad looks notably different.

Preeti Pawar returns, although she will be looking to improve on her 2022 bronze after making the squad again at 54kg. Parveen Hooda is also back, but her category has changed significantly. She competed at 57kg in Hangzhou and is listed at 65kg for the 2026 Games.

That change makes Parveen's second Asian Games appearance a very different proposition.

One of the most striking differences between the two squads is the absence of Nikhat Zareen. Nikhat was one of India's bronze medallists in Hangzhou after reaching the semi-finals in the women's 50kg category. She defeated Vietnam's Nguyen Thi Tam and South Korea's Baek Chun-seung before losing to Thailand's Raksat Chuthamat.

She will not be part of the 2026 team listed here.

Instead, Sakshi Chaudhary has been selected at 51kg, while Priya Ghanghas will compete at 60kg. The changes mean India's women's boxing challenge will look considerably different from the one that produced three medals in Hangzhou.

A fresh look among the men

The men's team has undergone an even more substantial transformation.

In 2022, India had Deepak Bhoria at 51kg, Sachin Siwach at 57kg, Shiva Thapa at 63.5kg, Nishant Dev at 71kg, Lakshya Chahar at 80kg, Sanjeet Kumar at 92kg and Narender Berwal at +92kg. Only Sachin & Narender returns to the 2026 squad.

He will now compete at +90kg, reflecting the different category structure listed for the upcoming Games. The other five men's places belong to Jadumani Singh at 55kg, Sachin Siwach at 60 kg, Sumit Kundu at 70kg, Ankush Panghal at 80kg and Kapil Pokhariya at 90kg.

Sachin, therefore, is another returning name from Hangzhou, although he moves from 57kg to 60kg. The overall picture is clear: India's men's team is being rebuilt around a largely new group of boxers.

What does this mean for India's medal prospects?

The 2022 results provide a useful benchmark, but they cannot simply be transferred to the 2026 team.

India had four medals in Hangzhou, including three in women's boxing and one in men's boxing. The new squad has only a handful of returning names from that campaign, and several of the athletes who produced those results are no longer part of the team.

That makes the 2026 tournament feel less like a title defense and more like an examination of India's next boxing generation.

Lovlina will be expected to carry experience. Preeti will have another opportunity to convert her Asian Games experience into a medal. Parveen enters a new weight category, while Narender provides continuity in the men's heavyweight program.

For the younger or newer members of the squad, the Asian Games will be an opportunity to make a name for themselves.

The medal table tells only half the story.

India's four medals in 2022 were valuable, but the bigger challenge in 2026 will be establishing whether the country's boxing depth has successfully transitioned to a new generation.

An 11-member team is heading to Aichi-Nagoya, compared with 13 boxers in Hangzhou. The names are different. Several weight categories are different. The competitive landscape will be different. But the benchmark remains the same.

Four medals in 2022.

This time, India's new-look boxing team will have the chance to show whether it can go one better.