Pooja Rani | Indian Olympic Boxing Quarterfinalist

Pooja Rani Bohra

Participated · Olympic Games: Tokyo 2020

Pooja Rani Bohra is a former Indian Olympic boxer and two-time Asian champion from Haryana. She represented India at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in the 75 kg Middleweight division, reaching the quarter-finals and finishing 5th overall. She also won bronze at the 2014 Asian Games and gold at the 2019 Asian Boxing Championships.

Pooja Rani Bohra was born on 17 February 1991 in Nimriwali, Haryana, and comes from Bhiwani district, widely regarded as one of India's important boxing centres. She started boxing at the age of 18 and trained at the Hawa Singh Boxing Academy under coach Sanjay Kumar Sheoran.

Her early international breakthrough came with a silver medal at the 2012 Asian Boxing Championships. She later won bronze at the 2014 Asian Games in the 75 kg category and bronze at the 2015 Asian Boxing Championships.

Pooja continued to establish herself as one of India's leading women's middleweight boxers. She won gold at the 2019 Asian Boxing Championships in Thailand, becoming Asian champion. She also won gold at the 2016 South Asian Games and multiple national championships. Her Olympic breakthrough finally came at the Asia-Oceania Olympic Qualifiers in Amman in 2020, where she defeated Thailand's Pornnipa Chutee 5–0 in the quarter-final to secure her Tokyo Olympic quota. The Indian Olympic Association recorded her as the first Indian boxer to qualify for Tokyo 2020 in that qualifying tournament.

At the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, Pooja opened her campaign with a dominant victory over Algeria's Ichrak Chaib. She advanced to the quarter-finals, where she faced China's Li Qian. After losing the bout, Pooja finished =5th overall in the Olympic tournament.

Pooja Rani's Olympic quarter-final appearance, Asian Championship title and Asian Games medal place her among India's notable women boxers of the modern era.

Career Highlights

2009 – Haryana Youth State Champion
2009 – Youth Nationals Silver Medal – 60 kg
2012 – Asian Boxing Championships Silver Medal – 75 kg
2014 – Asian Games Bronze Medal, Incheon – 75 kg
2014 – Represented India at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games
2015 – Asian Boxing Championships Bronze Medal – 75 kg
2016 – South Asian Games Gold Medal
2019 – Asian Boxing Championships Gold Medal, Thailand – 75 kg
2020 – Asia-Oceania Olympic Qualifier – Qualified for Tokyo Olympics
2020 – Represented India at Tokyo Olympic Games
2020 – Reached Olympic Quarter-Finals – 75 kg
2020 – Finished =5th at the Tokyo Olympic Games
2021 – Boxam International Tournament Silver Medal, Spain

Olympic Medals

Tokyo 2020 75 kg / Middleweight · Quarterfinalist: Yes · Official Place: =5th