Boxer Preeti Pawar in one of India's top medal hopes at the Asian Games, But she will be in the women's 54kg event at Aichi-Nagoya, where the line-up is almost like the Olympics. (Photo: Preeti Pawar Instagram)Boxer Preeti Pawar has a mountain staring at her at this Asian Games. The line-up for the 54kg is almost like the Olympics. A stack of familiar and seasoned names are tilting their lances at the CWG champion and World No 3; three-time world champion and Tokyo Olympics (51kg) bronze medallist Huang Hsiao-wen of Chinese Taipei, Paris Olympics silver medallist Pang Chol-mi of North Korea and bronze clincher Nazym Kyzaibay (51kg) of Kazakhstan. Not to discount 2023 Worlds bronze medallist Enkhjargal Munkhtsetseg of Vietnam and the sprightly Chinese ace Xuan Zhao.But Preeti has reasons to be quietly confident. She is the only boxer to have defeated Hsiao-wen twice in a year; she has beaten Chol-mi and Enkhjargal in the Asian Championship this year. She has also scored wins over 2022 world silver medallist Lacramioara Perijoc of Romania, and World No. six Sirine Charaabi of Italy. But her mind is not scanning the big names she could confront; rather she is nibbling lessons from the Hangzhou Games, where she had mustered bronze “The semifinal loss against Chang Yuan taught me a lot of things too,” she recounts.“Yuan lost the final against Chol-mi and then went on to win the Paris Olympics gold, beating Chol-mi in the semis. I wasn’t technically strong at that time and I worked on my counter movements as well as body switch punches. I also remember Hangzhou for the win over three-time world medallist Zhaina Shekerbekova in the quarters. She is one of those perfect boxers around,” shares Pawar.The 54kg category, which made its Olympics debut in Paris, has been an Asian stronghold. Asians have won as many as five world titles since 2010. Hsiao-wen presents a unique challenge because she is the tallest among the lot at five feet nine inches. Xuan is an inch shorter, whereas Pawar is only five feet six inches. “Hsiao-wen is a tall boxer and she plays a lot of counters. The wins have taught me not to be in her range and to utilise the body to switch punches as well my counter punches too,” she details. “I have not faced Chol-mi yet but she is a technical boxer,” she adds.As are Kazakh and Uzbek pugilists. “But the win against Zhaina Shekerbekova taught me how to utilise my upper cut and right counter punches. In Asian championships, Kazakh Elina Bazarova boxed a bit rough too and the key was to keep her close to the ropes and land my counterpunches,” Pawar elaborates.Pawar knows that the Asian Games title will not only help her stamp her class in this weight division for the second successive time at the Asian level this year but also put her plans in motion for the LA Olympics. The southpaw, who also trains at IIS Bellary and the Indian Army camp at Pune, keenly watches videos of (Ukrainian boxer) Vasiliy Lomachenko as well her opponents. To destress, she resorts to paper quilling, which she plans to do in Japan as well. “I am a fan of Lomachenko. We rely on the upper cut in the southpaw stance as well as the right uppercut to land on the opponent’s body. I have also worked a lot on my out-of-vision punch right hook,” adds Pawar.Her performance against Hsiao-wen has left head coach Santiago Nieva chuffed. “We have seen how Hsiao-wen struggled against Preeti with her pace. She is a long distance boxer but Preeti pressured her with her pace. The Korean is a counterpuncher but she is not the fastest. Preeti has strong basics, which allows her to be both offensive as well defensive. In CWG, focus was more on counterpunches but here, the focus will be on switching between counter as well attacks. They all are very good but we are also good,” remarks Santiago. Rest assured that the gaze of the mountain wouldn’t flinch her.Nitin Sharma is an Assistant Editor with the sports team of The Indian Express. Based out of Chandigarh, Nitin works with the print sports desk while also breaking news stories for the online sports team. A Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award recipient for the year 2017 for his story ‘Harmans of Moga’, Nitin has also been a three-time recipient of the UNFPA-supported Laadli Media Awards for Gender Sensitivity for the years 2022, 2023 and 2024 respectively. His latest Laadli Award, in November 2025, came for an article on Deepthi Jeevanji, who won India’s first gold medal at the World Athletics Para Championship and was taunted for her unusual features as a child. Nitin mainly covers Olympics sports disciplines with his main interests in shooting, boxing, wrestling, athletics and much more. The last 17 years with The Indian Express has seen him unearthing stories across India from as far as Andaman and Nicobar to the North East. Nitin also covers cricket apart from women’s cricket with a keen interest. Nitin has covered events like the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the 2011 ODI World Cup, 2016 T20 World Cup and the 2017 AIBA World Youth Boxing Championships. An alumnus of School of Communication Studies, Panjab University, from where he completed his Masters in Mass Communications degree, Nitin has been an avid quizzer too. A Guru Nanak Dev University Colour holder, Nitin’s interest in quizzing began in the town of Talwara Township, a small town near the Punjab-Himachal Pradesh border. When not reporting, Nitin's interests lie in discovering new treks in the mountains or spending time near the river Beas at his hometown. ... Read More