After winning gold at the 2026 Commonwealth Games, Indian boxer Sakshi Chaudhary described the backing she received from former cricket captain Virat Kohli. The Haryana athlete took the top spot in the women’s 51kg flyweight division in Glasgow and noted that the Virat Kohli Foundation offered sponsorship during an important stage of her career. In comments to IANS she expressed thanks for the assistance, which went beyond funding, and recalled simple advice to remain calm, reduce stress and concentrate solely on her performance in the ring. Her success followed a return from injury that had kept her out of the 2022 Commonwealth Games and 2023 Asian Games. She had chosen to move down from the 54kg class to 51kg, a decision that paid off when she beat England’s Ruby White by a 5-0 unanimous verdict in the final. Chaudhary formed part of a strong Indian boxing effort that delivered ten medals, including a record seven golds. Other gold medallists included Jaismine Lamboria, Preeti Pawar, Priya Ghanghas, Arundhati Choudhary, Sachin Siwach and Ankush Panghal, while Lovlina Borgohain, Jadumani Singh and Narender Berwal earned silver. No country has collected more boxing golds than India’s seven at one edition of the Commonwealth Games.
