Ankush beats Erkinboev to move to 80kg boxing final, ensures at least silver medal

India's Ankush Panghal moved into the final of the men’s 80kg boxing at the 2026 Asian Games. | Photo Credit: AP

Ankush Panghal will fight for Asian Games gold after beating Uzbekistan’s Fazliddin Erkinboev, the 75kg world champion, 4-1 on points in the men’s 80kg semifinal at Aichi-Nagoya on Tuesday.

He will meet South Korea’s Kim Minseong, who beat Jordan’s Hussein Iashaish 5-0 in the other semifinal, in the gold-medal match on October 2, Friday.

Ankush, the Games debutant already had a bronze secured through his 5-0 quarterfinal win over Tajikistan’s Nekruz Salimov. This result raises his guaranteed medal to silver.

Ankush, who hails from Bherian village in Hisar, came close to quitting the sport before it began. At 14, he had lost the final of his first State championship and decided he had had enough. His father, Suresh Panghal, talked him round. “Defeats are temporary,” he told his son.

That persuasion paid off on August 1, when Ankush beat England’s Dimeji Shittu 4-1 in Glasgow to win Commonwealth Games gold, the biggest victory of his career until now.

Earlier in the day in Japan, Parveen Hooda beat China’s Li Shu 5-0 in the women’s 65kg semifinal to reach her own final.