looked back to her absolute best, beating Paris Olympics bronze medalist Aira Villegas of the Philippines with a dominant 5-0 unanimous decision in the women’s 51kg round of 32 at the Asian Games 2026 in Aichi-Nagoya.
Fresh off her recent gold medal victories at the Glasgow and the World Boxing Cup, Sakshi controlled the fight from the start. Operating from the red corner, she established an early lead with sharp jabs and clean combinations to take the opening round 5-0 on all judges’ scorecards.
Villegas attempted to increase the pace in the second round, but the Indian fighter countered effectively to sweep the round 5-0 once again. Holding a comfortable lead in the final period, Sakshi adopted a tactical, measured approach and saw off the game. Despite taking a heavy left hook from Villegas, Sakshi closed out the unanimous decision to set up a round of 16 clash against Kazakhstan’s Alua Balkibekova on Thursday.
Indian star in action in shooting, kabaddi, and swimming on Day 3
In other boxing action, India’s was set to face Nepal’s Chandra Bahadur Thapa in the men’s 55kg round of 32 at the Asian Games.
Beyond the boxing ring, Team India posted key results across various sports in Aichi-Nagoya. The men’s kabaddi squad produced an emphatic 63-31 Group A victory over South Korea. In shooting, the 10m air rifle mixed team pair of Elavenil Valarivan and Parth Mane placed second in qualification before ultimately ending fourth in the medal round.
In swimming, the men’s 4x100m medley relay quartet of Rishabh Das, Akash Mani, Benediction Beniston, and Dhanush Suresh registered a seventh-place finish in the heats to advance to the final, while Aryan Nehra finished fourth in the 1500m freestyle Final B.
Soft tennis saw Jay Meena defeat Pakistan’s Hussain Arain 4-0 in Group D, while Aadhya Tiwari suffered a 1-4 loss to Thailand’s Alisha Ziegler. In wushu, Langlentombi Devi Hanjabam finished ninth in the women’s Nanquan final, while fencers Sachin and Hemash Singh placed fourth in their respective pools in men’s individual foil.