5 min readJul 31, 2026 10:44 PM IST
The Glasgow crowd booed as Arundhati Chaudhary walked out onto the ring at the SEC centre.
At a boxing programme where Indians have enjoyed the lack of competition that they face even at the usual Commonwealth level, this was going to be a tough one. Standing in front of India’s 70kg entrant was the winner of the previous edition.
Rosie Eccles walked out bearing the Welsh flag at the beginning of the Commonwealth Games. Having announced her retirement before the tournament, the Welsh flag bearer had plans to repeat her gold from Birmingham and walk off into the sunset. Evidently the Glasgow crowd that had come to watch the semi-final bouts wanted the same.
Choudhary brushed aside their plans with a smile.
The boxer from Kota, Rajasthan – who has been a part of the Indian team for a fair few tournaments now, defeated her opponent in one of the toughest bouts an Indian has had to face at the Commonwealth Games ‘Lite’.
Right from the first bell, Eccles came out swinging. In a classic southpaw vs orthodox battle, the 30-year-old came forward with intent and a lack of worry about Choudhary’s power. But the Indian had her bread-and-butter combination locked in. Starting with a right cross to the body that opened up the face for the left straight – that was Choudhary’s weapon of choice. She had to land it repeatedly while moving back to avoid the intense pressure provided by Eccles.
The Welsh boxer was landing her shots, but Choudhary’s work was cleaner and landed her a unanimous first round.
With the bout slipping from her hands, Eccles dialled up the intensity in the second round. Her attempts at landing punches grew wilder and took the fight from a controlled position which the Indian preferred, onto a situation where both boxers had to open up and let their hands go. At the end of the frenetic second round, Choudhary was once again awarded a unanimous verdict.
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In the third round, the Rajasthan boxer, knowing that victory was largely hers, started by moving sideways along the ring, attempting to avoid her opponent. But this was Eccles’ last ever round in amateur boxing and there was no way she was going to end the fight accepting defeat on the judges scorecard.
She succeeded in making the last round into a scrap, forcing Choudhary to hang on and survive. Haymakers flew from both sides – some missed and some found their mark flush. Every judge gave the final round of Eccles’ amateur career to her, including one giving her a 10-8 over the Indian. But the deficit of the first two rounds was too much to come back from.
Choudhary won the semifinals 4-0 ( 29-27X4, 28-28X1) and reached the first ever final of a multi-sport event. Out of all the boxing medals India won on the day, her’s was the one that most didn’t expect to land. But Choudhary pulled off the win and will fight England’s Chantelle Reid for the Commonwealth Games gold medal on Sunday.
Preeti, Jaismine dominate
The other two Indian women in the early sessions of the day dominated their bouts, reaching the finals in Glasgow with relative ease. Both Preeti Pawar and Jaismine Lamboria are world-class boxers with opponents not quite up to their mark. It showed in the second round demolition that Jaismine inflicted on Rapelang Maselela in 57kg. The Lesotho boxer, diminutive compared to the lanky Indian World Champion, got tagged repeatedly and didn’t have the skill to fight a game on the inside, nor the power to trouble Jaismine. The referee stopped the contest in the second round.
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She next faces Ireland’s Michaela Walsh in the final.
Preeti, India’s first fighter of the day, had an easy 5-0 unanimous decision win come her way as well. She defeated Zambian pugilist Catherine Mwape to make her way to the 54kg final where she runs into Canada’s Scarlett Delgado.
Ankush, Jadumani prevail
Indian boxing’s relentless unanimous decision victories extended to the men’s team as well with Ankush and Jadumani Singh Mandengbam both ensuring that silver medals, at the very least, would be coming their way. Ankush dispatched Canada’s Joshua Ofori first in the 80kg category and then Jadumani followed in the second session of the day, scoring a win over Phillip Haoseb in the 55kg semifinals. Jadumani will fight Aussie Jye Dixon for the CWG title
