Asian Games 2026: Ankush Panghal beats Hamsa Vogel, reaches 80kg pre-quarters

Indian boxer Ankush Panghal advanced to the round of 16 in the men's 80kg category at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games 2026 after defeating Bahrain's Hamsa Vogel with a unanimous 5-0 victory on Wednesday.

Indian boxer Ankush Panghal advanced to the round of 16 in the men's 80kg category at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games 2026 after defeating Bahrain's Hamsa Vogel with a unanimous 5-0 victory on Wednesday. Ankush, who entered the bout after winning gold at the Commonwealth Games 2026, produced a dominant performance against Vogel in the round of 32 contest.

The Indian boxer started cautiously but soon found his rhythm, landing effective punches in the opening round. All five judges awarded the first round in Ankush's favour. Vogel began the second round with more intent, but Ankush responded with a strong combination of punches and continued to control the contest. The Indian boxer again secured the round 5-0 from all judges.

With Ankush maintaining his advantage in the final round, Vogel struggled to trouble the Indian fighter as the bout progressed. The judges once again ruled unanimously in Ankush's favour, handing him a 5-0 victory. The win booked Ankush's place in the round of 16 as he continues his campaign at the Asian Games.

Meanwhile, India secured three bronze medals at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games 2026 on Wednesday, with shooting and soft tennis providing podium finishes, while athletes across rowing, canoe sprint, kabaddi and table tennis produced strong performances. The Indian women’s skeet team of Raiza Dhillon, Parinaaz Dhaliwal and Maheshwari Chauhan won bronze in the team event after finishing third with a combined score of 331. The men’s skeet team comprising Anantjeet Singh Naruka, Mairaj Ahmed Khan and Bhavtegh Singh Gill also secured bronze after finishing third with 346 points.

Anantjeet Singh Naruka additionally qualified for the men’s skeet individual final, while Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker reached the women’s 10m air pistol final and finished fifth. Suruchi Inder Singh and Esha Singh missed out on a place in the final. Jay Meena assured India’s first-ever Asian Games medal in soft tennis after reaching the men’s singles semi-finals. Although he lost to Japan’s Takuya Kurosaka in the last four, Meena secured the bronze medal as all semi-finalists are guaranteed a podium finish in the event.

India’s women’s kabaddi team continued its winning run by defeating Iran 37-23 in the Group A match. The victory marked India’s second consecutive win after their opening victory over Bangladesh. In rowing, Balraj Panwar qualified for the men’s single sculls final after finishing third in his heat, while Satnam Singh and Salman Khan advanced to the men’s double sculls final after finishing second in their heat.

The men’s kayak four 500m team of Harshwardhan Shaktawat, Varinder Singh, L Naocha Singh Oinam and Arun Singh also progressed to the canoe sprint final. Megha Pradeep qualified for the women’s canoe single 200m semi-final, while Parvathy Geetha and Phairembam Soniya Devi advanced to the women’s kayak double 500m semi-final. In table tennis, Manush Shah and Diya Chitale defeated Maldives’ Moosa and Aishath in the mixed doubles round of 16. Earlier, Harmeet Desai and Yashaswini Ghorpade defeated Maldives’ Mohamed Ismail and Fathimath Ali, while Manush Shah-Diya Chitale also registered a win over Sri Lanka’s Chanul Kulappuwawadu and Bimandee Swarna.

In fencing, GN Kumaresan advanced to the men’s sabre round of 16, while Mina Devi Naorem and Ashitha Stalinraj exited the women’s foil competition in the round of 32. Karan Singh also bowed out in the men’s sabre round of 32. In swimming, Benedicton Beniston finished 13th overall in the men’s 100m butterfly heats, while Sajan Prakash did not start the event. Vedaant Madhavan and Aneesh Sunil failed to progress from the men’s 200m freestyle heats after finishing 19th and 17th respectively.

Gurbani Kaur, Aleena Anto, Tendenthoi Haobijam and Poonam qualified for the women’s four rowing Final A, while Jaswinder Singh and Nitin Kumar advanced to Final B in the men’s pair event. In sepaktakraw, India defeated the Philippines 2-1 in the men’s team regu Group B match but missed out on qualification for the next stage. (ANI)