Around two months ago, with Indian women basking in the spotlight of a record boxing haul from the Commonwealth Games (CWG), Parveen Hooda returned as the only female boxer without a medal. Around three years ago, she returned from the Asian Games with a 57kg bronze, only for it to be scratched.
Parveen made her competitive return last October in 60kg, and won the World Boxing Cup Finals gold. With a spot in that category sealed, she decided to move up to 65kg. The switch demanded patience from her, even after a fruitless CWG where every other Indian woman participant got the sweet taste of medals. “I don’t look at boxers who win and those who lose. “In her case, there were some clear things that if she could improve, she could be much better. And we can see that at these Asian Games.
The pugilist from Haryana defeated China’s Li Shu 5-0 in the 65kg semi-final on Tuesday to enter the final with aplomb and confirm a better medal than the one taken away from Hangzhou. Narender Berwal won his second Asian Games medal, a bronze in the +90kg after losing the semi-final to Kazakhstan’s Aibek Oralbay 5-0.
We look at mistakes and areas of improvement,” said Nieva.
Because i was out for a long time,” Parveen had told HT during the CWG, i had plenty of doubts about whether it could happen,. “Now she has more patience, better balance, better attack positions from the centre instead of getting too close, and better footwork. She is now much more in control. “Look, that was a long time ago.
“She’s been excellent,” Santiago Nieva, the women’s team head coach, told HT from Aichi. “She had a tendency to rush her attacks and fall in too much,” Nieva said. We can’t change what happened in the past,” said Nieva, India’s former high-performance director who returned to the setup late last year. “What we could change was her weight category, and how she could box against those stronger, slower opponents.”
“All through last year, I prayed that somehow I get a chance to represent India in an event like this again.
