Tokyo Olympics: Meet the Indian Boxing Team that will be going for Gold

The Indian boxing team is all set for the Tokyo Olympics. India will be having 9 representatives in Boxing at the Tokyo Olympics and this is the highest number of boxers that will be competing in a single Olympic tournament for India as well.

India has so far had two medals in Boxing at the Olympics. The First medal in Boxing was won by Vijender Singh back at the 2008 Beijing Olympics when Mary Kom became the first female Indian Boxer to win a medal at the 2012 London Olympics as well. Both Vijender and Mary Kom won bronze medals in their respective outings.

This time around, the Indian Boxing team will be looking to make a bigger impact, and here is a look at the nine names that will be waving the Indian flag high in Tokyo.

Amit Panghal

Amit Panghal goes into the Olympics as the top seed in the Flyweight category. Hailing from Haryana, Amit is part of the Indian Army and has won medals at the World Championship, Commonwealth Games, Asian Games, and Asian championships. This will be the first Olympics for the 25-year-old Amit. 

Manish Kaushik

The 25-year-old Manish Kaushik is someone worth watching out for. Hailing from Bhiwani, Manish is an army man and his father is a farmer in the Devsar Village. He was inspired to take up boxing after seeing the Olympic triumph of Vijender Singh and has managed to secure multiple medals in his career as well.

Manish has Commonwealth Games and World Championship medals on his resume and will be looking to get his hands on the medal in his debut Olympics when he fights at Lightweight.

Vikas Krishan Yadav

Vikas Krishan is a two-time Olympian that has an impressive resume to showcase. The Haryana-born boxer has piled up medals across Commonwealth Games, World Championships, Asian Championships, Asian Games, Summer Youth Olympics, and Youth World Championship.

After a small stint in professional boxing, Vikas has now returned to the Amateur circuit to capture the Olympic medal that has been eluding him. The 29-year-old will be looking to achieve just that when he fights at Welterweight in his third Olympics.

Lovlina Borgohain

Lovlina Borgohain is the first-ever female boxer to qualify for the Olympics from Assam. She is also the youngest name in the Women’s boxing team for the Tokyo Olympics.

She has two World Championship medals and two Asian Championship medals on her resume and is also an Arjuna Award winner. She will be looking to make a mark in her first-ever Olympics just like her teammates

Ashish Kumar

Ashish hails from Sundar Nagar in Himachal Pradesh. The 26-year-old will be looking to replicate the Olympic success of Vijender Singh at Middleweight when he steps foot into the ring at the Tokyo Olympics.

He is a former Asian Championship medallist and is the son of a former national-level kabaddi player and farmer Bhagat Ram who passed away last year. He qualified for the Olympics after securing the berth at the 2020 Asia and Oceania Boxing Olympic Qualification Tournament in Amman.

Satish Kumar

Another army man on the boxing team, Satish Kumar has qualified for the Super Heavyweight category. In fact, he is the first Indian boxer to qualify for the Olympics in the Super Heavyweight category. He was inspired by WWE as a youngster and took up boxing later in his journey. An Arjuna Award winner, Satish hails from Uttar Pradesh and will be looking to make history in Tokyo.

Simranjit Kaur

Simranjit Kaur will be competing at Lightweight in the Tokyo Olympics. A World Championship and Asian championship medallist, Simranjit is from Punjab and took up boxing after being encouraged by her mother.

Apart from her international medals, she has been a force to reckon with in the national scene as well having won multiple medals. She qualified for the Olympics by securing a Silver Medal at the Asian Boxing Olympic Qualifiers in Jordan in 2020.

Pooja Rani

Pooja Rani was the first Indian to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics. Competing at Middleweight, Pooja has won four medals at the Asian Championships and has won an Asian Games medal as well. She hails from Haryana and first made her mark by winning the Youth Nationals back in 2009. The 30-year-old missed out on the Rio Olympics by a whisker and will be looking to make up for lost ground at Tokyo.

She is coming into the tournament with a lot of momentum as well having won the Gold Medal at the Asian Championships recently.

Mary Kom

Mary Kom is someone that needs no introduction. The legendary boxer is a six-time World Champion and had won the Olympic medal back in 2012 in London. Hailing from Manipur, Mary Kom has also won 7 medals at the Asian Championship including 5 gold medals, 2 Medals at the Asian Games, one gold each at the Commonwealth Games, and the Asian Indoor Games.

She will be looking to make a strong return at the Tokyo Olympics in the Flyweight category as she was not able to qualify for the Rio Olympics in 2016.

How many medals do you think India will win for Boxing at the Tokyo Olympics? Let us know in the comment section of the article below.

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