3 min readUpdated: Jul 31, 2026 08:30 PM IST
Preeti Pawar was the first Indian boxer in action on Friday, who sailed into the Commonwealth Games final by out-punching Zambia’s Catherine Mwape in the last-four stage. She was followed by Ankush Panghal who got the better of Canada’s Joshua Ofori. Jaismine Lamboria also went through to the final after victory vs Rapelang Maselela in women’s 57kg semifinal while Arundhati Choudhary also will gun for a gold or silver medal in the final after defeating Wales’ Rosie Eccles in the women’s 70kg semifinal.
In the men’s 55 kg semifinal, Jadumani Singh also defeated Namibia’s Philip Pumulo Mutakela Haoseb and will take part in the summit clash.
India still has a lot more boxers to come on the day, expected to either sail into the final or finish with a bronze.
Sakshi Choudhary will clash with Canada’s Amber-Jane Wall in the women’s 51kg semifinal. Priya Ghangas and Lovlina Borgohain will be in action next against Lucy Kings-Wheatley and Tarona Khanum Badi Pasoni Taafaki in their respective semis.
The day will end with Sachin Siwach vs Owain Harris-Allan in the men’s 60kg semifinal and Narender Berwal vs Nigel Paul in the men’s 90+kg semifinal bouts.
How Indian boxers have fared thus far
Jaismine was so dominant in her semifinal bout that she won in a Referee Stops Contest (RSC) decision after the Lesotho boxer received her third standing count in the closing seconds of the second round.
Preeti, the 22-year-old from Bhiwani, who is an Asian Games bronze-medallist, powered to a 5-0 win in the quarterfinals to set up a clash with Canada’s Scarlett Delgado, who defeated England’s Lauren Mackie 4-1 in her semifinal bout. The Indian outpaced Mwape for most of the bout, cleverly drawing her in for effective counter-attacks with her left straight being particularly effective.
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Mwape struggled to connect throughout and was beaten almost every time Preeti launched her combination strikes. The Zambian’s struggles were evident from the three eight counts she faced in the first two rounds. Such was Preeti’s dominance that all five judges marked 10-8 in her favour in the second round.
Ankush was equally dominant against Ofori, who resorted to repeated clinching after being comprehensively outboxed in the opening two rounds. Although the Canadian launched an all-out attack in the beginning of the second round, the Indian soaked up the pressure with ease before countering with crisp combinations to seal a one-sided 5-0 verdict.
