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The Indian boxing team, which included two current world champions, Nikhat Zareen and Lovlina Borgohain, entered the Olympics with hopes of winning multiple medals but struggled under pressure, resulting in a disappointing campaign without any medals.

 

Boxing had become a significant medal prospect for India after Vijender Singh's historic bronze at the 2008 Beijing Games, followed by MC Mary Kom's bronze in 2012.

 

Although the boxers returned without a medal from the 2016 Rio Games, Borgohain's bronze at the Tokyo Olympics brought new life to the sport.

 

There were high hopes for the six qualified boxers in Paris, and many experts believed that at least one, if not two, medals could be won.

 

Two-time world champion Zareen (50kg), Borgohain (75kg), and 2023 world championship bronze-medallist Nishant Dev (71kg) were all considered strong contenders for the podium.

 

Poor show

 

Despite their efforts in the actual competition, the Indians lacked the needed momentum to advance far in the tournament. Nishant didn't achieve a podium finish due to a controversial result in his quarterfinal, Borgohan and Zareen struggled to defeat strong opponents, and Amit Panghal (51kg) couldn't replicate his previous performance.

 

Borgohain, Panghal, and Nishant only needed two wins to secure medals. Even though Borgohain and Zareen were confronted with challenging draws and formidable opponents in their second rounds, as reigning world champions, they were still expected to overcome these challenges or at least put up a strong fight. 

 

 

Unfortunately, they were unable to do so and were defeated quite easily by their Chinese counterparts.

 

Zareen, once seen as a potential gold medal winner, performed below expectations in the second round and later admitted that she had resorted to extreme methods to stay within the required weight limit, which left her drained for the actual competition.

 

She began her campaign with a hard-fought victory and then was defeated by Wu Yu in the following round.

 

Borgohain once again lost to her longtime rival Li Qian, who seems to have her number, having beaten her in three out of their four encounters.

 

On the men's side, Panghal seemed a far cry from his usually sharp and aggressive self against Zambia's Patrick Chinyemba, who was subsequently eliminated in the very next round.

 

Jaismine Lamboria, who moved down to the 57kg weight class from her more comfortable 60kg division, predictably lost to Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Nesthy Petecio.

 

However, Preeti Pawar (54kg) put in a praiseworthy performance in her bout against reigning world silver medalist Yeni Marcela Arias.

 

Government Funding

 

Nine main TOPS (Target Olympic Podium Scheme) boxers and 20 emerging fighters participated in 17 national training camps and 23 international exposure trips leading up to the Paris Olympics. The Sports Ministry invested Rs 60.93 crore in this program.

 

Substantial funding was also assigned to individual athletes, particularly with Rs 91.71 lakh being allocated to Zareen, Rs 81.76 lakh to Borgohain, Rs 65.90 lakh to Panghal, and Rs 65.86 lakh to Nishant.

 

Coaching instability and selection policy 

 

The unstable environment provided by the Boxing Federation of India was a significant concern leading up to the Games. Coaches have been in constant flux since the Tokyo Games, depriving the boxers of the stability necessary for an Olympic campaign.

 

Raffaele Bergamasco, the Women's High-Performance Director, was the first to leave immediately after Tokyo, followed by Santiago Nieva, the men's HPD, in May 2022.

 

Narendra Rana took over as the men's head coach after CA Kuttapa, but Kuttapa was reinstated later.

 

After briefly being appointed as the women's head coach, Bhaskar Bhatt resigned in June 2023. HPD Bernard Dunne, who was appointed in October 2022, also stepped down four months before the Olympics, leaving Indian boxing in a difficult position.

 

The foreign coach Dmitriy Dmitruk was the latest coach appointed in February of last year.

 

The new selection policy, which replaced the trial system, also sparked discussion.

 

Panghal was sidelined from the national team until the final qualifier, with Deepak Bhoria being selected based on the assessment system that evaluated the boxers' camp performance and competitive results.

 

However, Panghal was eventually included in the final qualifier, and although he secured a quota, the Haryana boxer struggled to regain his form after being away from international competition for an extended period.