Sakshi Chaudhary wins women’s 51kg gold in Glasgow; ends Ruby White’s 68-match streak
From beating world champions to ending a 68-fight streak: Sakshi Chaudhary’s road to Commonwealth Games gold medal
From beating world champions to ending a 68-fight streak: Sakshi Chaudhary’s road to Commonwealth Games gold medal
India won a record 10 boxing medals at the Commonwealth Games 2026 but no champion navigated a tougher path to gold than Sakshi Chaudhary.
The Commonwealth Games 2026 will be remembered as a landmark edition for Indian boxing .
A record haul of 10 medals, including an unprecedented seven gold, made India the first nation to win seven boxing titles at a single edition of the Commonwealth Games .
Yet among the seven Indian boxers crowned champions at Glasgow 2026 , Sakshi Chaudhary ’s journey stood apart.
Sakshi did not simply win the women’s 51kg title. She first had to earn the right to compete in Glasgow by defeating a former and a reigning world boxing champion in the national trials before producing one of the most commanding performances of the tournament.
Her toughest contests, in many ways, came before the Commonwealth Games had even begun.
Dropping down from her preferred 54kg category, Sakshi Chaudhary entered the selection trials in Patiala in May knowing there would be no easy route into the Indian boxing team.
In the semi-finals, she stunned two-time world champion Nikhat Zareen 4-1, ending the former world No. 1’s hopes of defending the CWG title she had won at Birmingham 2022 .
Awaiting her in the final was reigning 48kg world champion Minakshi Hooda, who had herself beaten former world champion and Birmingham gold medallist Nitu Ghanghas .
She defeated Minakshi 5-0 to book her place on the plane to Glasgow.
“There was a lot of pressure,” Sakshi’s coach Chhote Lal told Ṭhe New Indian Express. “She had beaten Nikhat not so long ago, so people had high expectations.”
The coach, who trains Sakshi at the Army Sports Institute in Pune, believed the 25-year-old boxer always possessed the ability to compete with the world’s best.
“She is very hard-working. She had joined ASI when her game was down around 2021-22. But I knew she had the potential.”
If the trials announced Sakshi Chaudhary’s arrival, the Commonwealth Games confirmed it.
She swept through the tournament without conceding a single bout on the judges’ scorecards.
The Indian opened with a unanimous 5-0 win over Botswana’s Lethabo Modukanele before repeating the scoreline against Northern Ireland’s Caitlin Fryers in the quarter-finals and Canada’s Amber-Jane Wall in the semi-finals.
Sakshi Chaudhary ended Ruby White’s streak of winning 68 straight matches.
Standing between Sakshi Chaudhary and gold was England’s Ruby White.
The 19-year-old Ruby White had won all 68 of her senior bouts heading into the final and was one of Britain’s brightest prospects.
Sakshi Chaudhary ended that remarkable streak with another emphatic 5-0 victory to clinch gold.
Only one other Indian boxer enjoyed a similarly dominant campaign in Glasgow.
Preeti Pawar won the women’s 54kg title after four successive victories, including three unanimous decisions and one referee-stopped contest.
Sakshi, however, had already overcome arguably the deepest field of any Indian boxer before arriving in Scotland.
She eliminated two of India’s finest boxers in Nikhat and Minakshi to secure her place, then defeated every opponent she faced at the Commonwealth Games by unanimous decision, culminating in the victory that halted one of boxing’s longest active winning streaks.
In a tournament remembered for India’s record-breaking boxing haul, Sakshi Chaudhary delivered its defining individual performance.
Picture by 2026 Getty Images
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