She missed more than connecting while the quick-footed Elina landed blow after blow to take the first round 5-0 in the bantamweight fight. New Delhi: Kazakhstan’s Elina Bazarova was pounding Preeti Pawar. The opening round of her first bout at the Senior Asian Championships had thrown Preeti into deep waters.
In Glasgow, the women’s team won five of the seven gold medals on offer, giving a fillip to the overall medal tally on the final day. The last couple of Asian Games, we have not won a gold medal. However, she has then staged an impressive comeback. Training at the Army Sports Institute in Pune with quality sparring partners and coaches, she gradually built her strength and boxing and has now taken charge of the 54kg class. It has been quite a turnaround since winning the World Cup Finals at home. Preeti’s resurgence is part of a revival in Indian women’s boxing. The Asian Games has five weight categories, but navigating the draw and going deep to secure a medal will be a much bigger challenge. “Asian Games is a very strong competition and Asian teams are improving.
Every competition is important for Preeti, but she considers them only a stepping stone towards the 2028 LA Olympics. In the 2024 Paris Olympics, she entered as one of the country’s best talents but was raw and new to international boxing. Coming back after the last 16 loss in Paris, she was low, struggled to get her confidence back, and lost her place to Sakshi Chaudhary in the team.
So that’s our goal,” said Nieva.
A bout of Hepatitis A before the Games had drained her energy.
“She was a bit slow in the first round. We asked her to show more energy, step back and counter, and put more pressure on the Kazakh boxer. Aitesaamuddin, a coach with the Indian team who has also trained her at ASI, Pune. She has also beaten the tall Huang Hsiao-wen at the World Cup Finals at home and the Asian meet. It will be the same in Japan. In the last Asiad in Hangzhou, the women returned with only three medals, and no gold. Preeti was one of the boxers to win a bronze.
We told her, ‘If you don’t win this round, it will be over for you. The next two rounds she was fantastic,” says Md. “I have faced her twice and my gameplan has worked against her,” says Preeti. “Before the CWG, I told myself that I would focus on the performance and not on the medal.
For women’s team head coach Santiago Nieva, who rejoined Indian boxing earlier this year, it will also be an important test before the LA qualification cycle begins.
