New Delhi, Aug. 8 -- As Arundhati Choudhary entered the ring, for the biggest bout of her career, she wanted to make sure she left with a gold and not with excuses. The 23-year-old was running a 102-degree fever on 1 August, the day of the women's 70kg boxing final at the Commonwealth Games 2026. She popped a paracetamol, shoved any doubts caused by her illness to the back of her mind and swaggered out.

"It takes a lot of time, a lot of effort to get an opportunity like that," Choudhary said during a media interaction a day after her bout. "An event like the Commonwealth Games comes every four years. I kept telling myself, 'Ok I have fever, but I can forget that for 9 minutes.' Once I was in the ring, I didn't give it a thought."

Choudh...