In the first round of the women’s 50 kg competition, world champion boxer Nikhat will face Germany’s Carina Kloetzer. In comparison, in the women’s 75 kg division, Lovlina Borgohain will face Norway’s Sunniva Hofstad.

Nikhat Zareen and Lovlina Borgohain, two prominent Indian women boxers, were drawn into challenging matches for their respective weight divisions at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

The world champion boxer Nikhat was scheduled to face Germany’s Carina Kloetzer in the opening round of the women’s 50 kg division; but, according to Olympics.com, her next opponent may be Wu Yu, the reigning Asian Games champion from China.

In the quarterfinals, if she prevails over the Chinese opponent, Nikhat may play either Chuthamat Raksat of Thailand or Sabina Bobokulova of Uzbekistan. In February, she had fallen short against her opponent from Uzbekistan in the Strandja Memorial final.

Sabina had also beaten Wu Yu in that event’s quarterfinal. In the semifinals, Chuthamat defeated Nikhat as well, on their way to winning the silver medal at the 2018 Asian Games in Hangzhou.

It will be difficult for Lovlina Borgohain to earn a medal.

In the women’s 75 kg class, Lovlina, the bronze medallist from Tokyo 2020, will begin her campaign against Norway’s Sunniva Hofstad. In the quarterfinals, she may also face Li Qian of China, who had won the women’s 75 kg final at the Asian Games the year before. Qian has also won two medals in the Olympics.

In her first match in the women’s 57 kg division, Jaismine Lamboria will square off against Nesthy Petecio, the silver medalist from the Philippines in Tokyo 2020.

The current European champion in this weight class, France’s third-seeded Amina Zidani, will be Jaismine’s next opponent if she advances to the second round. In the round of 32, Vietnamese boxer Vo Thi Kim Anh will square off against bronze medallist Preeti Pawar at the Asian Games.

In men’s boxing, Amit Pangal and Nishant Dev are given first-round byes.

Regarding the men’s boxing competition, Amit Panghal and Nishant Dev, who were given opening-round byes, will begin their careers in the round of 16 in the 51 kg and 71 kg divisions. 

Amit’s first fight is against Zambia’s Patrick Chinyemba, the bronze medallist from the 2022 Commonwealth Games, while Nishant will take against Jose Rodriguez Tenorio of Ecuador. Preliminary rounds of the boxing competition in Paris 2024 will take place at the Arena Paris Nord on July 27.

Boxing in the Paris 2024 Olympics: A draw for Indian fighters

–Women 50kg: Nikhat Zareen vs Maxi Carina Kloetzer (GER) – Round of 32

–Women’s 54kg: Preeti Pawar vs Vo Thi Kim Anh (VIE) – Round of 32

–Women’s 57kg: Jasmine Lamboria vs Nesthy Petecio (PHI) – Round of 32

–Women’s 75kg: Round of 16: Lovlina Borgohain vs Sunniva Hofstad (NOR) – Round of 16

–Men’s 51kg: Round of 16: Amit Panghal vs Patrick Chinyemba (ZAM) – Round of 16

–Men’s 71kg: Round of 16: Nishant Dev vs Jose Rodriguez Tenorio (ECU) – Round of 16.