Preeti Pawar at Asian Games 2026: Result, Bouts & Profile

Preeti competed at the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi Prefecture and Nagoya, Japan, with boxing held at the Nishio Gymnasium. She earned her spot with a gold medal run at the 2026 Asian Boxing Championships in Ulaanbaatar, where the Boxing Federation of India's selection policy gave direct Asian Games and Commonwealth Games qualification to finalists. She backed that up with gold at the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, arriving in Japan as the reigning Asian and Commonwealth champion in her category.

Pang Chol-mi, who had beaten Indonesia's Nabila Maharani in the round of 32, controlled the bout from the opening bell and won all three rounds on all five judges' cards. Preeti pushed for a comeback in the final round, but the North Korean kept picking her punches and never let the Indian settle into her rhythm. Pang is a formidable opponent in this weight class: a two-time world champion, a Paris 2024 Olympic bronze medallist, and the gold medallist in the same 54kg event at Hangzhou 2023, where Preeti won bronze.

It was a disappointing end to what had been the best season of Preeti's career, which included wins over Paris 2024 bronze medallist Aeji Im and three-time world champion Huang Hsiao-wen on her way to Asian Championships gold.

Read our complete guide to Asian Games 2026 in Nagoya, Japan, check the Asian Games 2026 India schedule, and see where to watch Asian Games 2026 live in India.

Preeti Sai Pawar is an Indian boxer who competes in the 54kg category and serves as a Naib Subedar in the Indian Army, which she joined in 2025. She comes from Bhiwani, a Haryana town often called the "nursery of Indian boxing" for the number of national and international boxers it has produced. What stands out about her rise is its pace: from a teenager with no real interest in the sport to an Asian Games medallist, Olympian and Commonwealth champion inside a decade.

She fights with a composed, disciplined style built around clean combinations, and the stretch from late 2025 to mid-2026 turned into the best run of her career, with World Boxing Cup Finals, Asian Championships and Commonwealth Games gold medals arriving one after another.

Preeti Pawar was born on 23 October 2003 in Bhiwani district, Haryana, to parents who were both former athletes. Despite that sporting background, she had little interest in boxing as a child, and it was her uncle, Vinod Sai Pawar, a former boxer, who introduced her to the sport at the age of 14. He convinced her father, Somvir Sai Pawar, an Assistant Sub-Inspector with the Haryana Police, to let him coach her, and she trained initially at her uncle's academy in Bhiwani.

Her junior career built steadily. She won silver at the 2020 Khelo India Youth Games before winning gold at the 2021 edition, which established her as one of India's top young prospects and set up her move to the senior circuit in 2023.

Preeti made her senior World Championships debut in 2023 before heading into the 2022 Asian Games, delayed a year and held in Hangzhou in 2023. In the 54kg category, she beat two-time Asian Champion Zhaina Shekerbekova of Kazakhstan 4-1 in the quarter-finals to guarantee herself a medal, before losing the semi-final 0-5 to China's Chang Yuan, who later became Olympic champion in Paris.

The bronze medal, won at just 19, was a breakthrough result, and it also secured India a quota place in the 54kg category for the Paris 2024 Olympics. She followed it up with gold at the 2024 Asian U-22 Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan.

At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Preeti won her opening bout 5-0 against Vietnam's Vo Thi Kim Anh, before facing Colombia's second seed Yeni Arias, the 2023 World Championships silver medallist, in the round of 16. She lost a close 2-3 split decision and exited the Games. She was hospitalised with an illness around that period and needed a long break to recover, returning to competition at the Boxing Federation of India Cup in 2025 with a clear target for the next cycle.

Preeti's comeback gathered pace quickly. In November 2025 she won gold at the World Boxing Cup Finals in Greater Noida. Then, at the 2026 Asian Boxing Championships in Ulaanbaatar, she opened with a 5-0 win over Kazakhstan's Elina Bazarova and beat Paris 2024 bronze medallist Aeji Im of South Korea 5-0 in the semi-final. In the final on 9 April, she beat Chinese Taipei's Huang Hsiao-wen, a three-time World Champion and Tokyo 2020 Olympic bronze medallist, 5-0 to win the Asian title and confirm her Asian Games and Commonwealth Games spots.

She carried that form to the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, stopping Malawi's Deborah Mtenje in the round of 16, then beating Northern Ireland's Nicole Clyde in the quarter-final and Zambia's Catherine Mwape in the semi-final. In the final on 1 August, a unanimous decision win over Canada's Scarlett Delgado gave her her first Commonwealth Games gold.

• Asian Games bronze medallist at just 19 (2023 Hangzhou, 54kg), earning India a Paris 2024 quota
• Paris 2024 Olympian, reaching the round of 16
• Asian Boxing Championships gold medallist (2026), beating a three-time World Champion in the final
• Commonwealth Games gold medallist (2026 Glasgow)
• World Boxing Cup Finals gold medallist (2025)

Preeti Pawar has gone from a reluctant teenage recruit in Bhiwani to one of the form boxers on the world circuit in barely eight years. Her Asian Games campaign in Aichi-Nagoya ended earlier than hoped against one of the best 54kg boxers in the world, but with Asian and Commonwealth titles won in the same year, she remains one of India's leading names for the LA 2028 Olympic cycle.

For her full profile, medal record and competition history, see Preeti Pawar on Wikipedia.