Sakshi Chaudhary Stunning Rise in Indian Boxing

The defeat of Nikhat, the two-time world boxing champion at the national selection trials at Patiala surprised everyone. The match took place in the women 51kg semifinal category and she was defeated by Sakshi Chaudhary by 4-1. This significantly reduced her chances of representing country at upcoming 2026 Commonwealth Games (Glasgow) and the 2026 Asian Games (Aichi-Nagoya).

Despite this major defeat, the Indian boxing also witnessed the rise of another women as Sakshi impressed the coaches and judges with her composed performance. She is from Haryana, a well-identified state in a country for producing top athletes. She has been a two-time Youth World Champion as well as a gold medal winner at the 2025 World Boxing Cup in Astana. While she earlier competed in 54kg category, but she then strategically shifted to 51kg to be able to qualify for CWG and Asian Games.

Sakshi’s game style is known for aggression, tactical discipline and sharp counters, which was reflected in her match with Nikhat. She took advantage through long reach effectiveness and kept punching Nikhat with left hand to keep her at distance. Moreover, she prevented Nikhat from moving inside for attacking combinations as well as her ability to maintain calm under pressure further contributed to her win. Nikhat later the match admitted Sakshi’s execution to tactical fight and said she well deserved the win.

This was the major win in Sakhi’s boxing career as it marks her arrival on big stage. The win also highlights the generational shift in Indian women boxing and emphasizes on the fact that young athletes can compete even under most challenging competitions. Furthermore, this victory enhances expectations from Sakshi for even better performance at the upcoming CWG, Asian Games and other future Olympic qualification events.