Jaya Kalsi: Team GB's Rising Boxing Star for the 2026 Youth Olympics
On the eve of her 17th birthday, the phone rang and changed everything for Jaya Kalsi.
The young boxer from Warwick learned she had been selected to represent Team GB at the 2026 Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, Senegal – a call she described as an “amazing present to get”. For most teenagers, birthdays mean cakes and candles. For Kalsi, it means a ticket to the biggest stage of her career so far.
The Games begin on 31 October. Her countdown is already in full swing.
A rising force in the 54kg ranks
Kalsi, a Sikh fighter ranked third in the world at her level and already a European gold medallist, will box in the 54kg category in Dakar. The opposition remains a mystery for now; the tournament draw will only be made once the team arrives in Senegal.
“The draw will happen when we're out there,” she said. “It will be an amazing experience.”
There is no sense of her being overawed. She has been in camp with Team GB in recent weeks, grinding through sessions in the gym, and says her preparations have gone “really well”. The step up is clear. So is her intent.
“I'm looking forward to it, it's a great honour to represent Team GB and my country,” she said.
From Leamington Spa to the Youth Olympics
Her journey started far from Dakar, in Leamington Spa, at Cleary Boxing Gym. She walked through those doors at the age of seven and never really left.
Before boxing, she tried swimming and karate. But the sport that stuck came from home.
“My dad, he was a massive fan of boxing so he got me into the sport,” she explained. He idolised Ricky Hatton and Floyd Mayweather, and he took his daughter to the gym, planting the seed that has grown into a Youth Olympic berth.
Kalsi has since carved out her own identity, but those early influences still shape her. She talks about Mayweather’s “hard work and dedication” with genuine respect.
“I look to achieve something like him in the future,” she said.
Inspired by greatness, aiming for gold
Kalsi’s ambitions stretch far beyond one tournament. Dakar is a milestone, not a finish line.
She has already mapped out the next decade of her career: a place on the 2028 Olympic squad, another push for the 2032 Games, then a move into the professional ranks.
“I aim to make it to the top,” she said. “I'm looking to hopefully get a place on the 2028 Olympic squad and hopefully the 2032 Olympics and then go pro after that.”
Her inspirations mirror that path. Irish star Katie Taylor, who recently ended her career as a three-time and two-weight undisputed champion, is a “massive inspiration” to Kalsi. Taylor’s impact on women’s boxing, she says, shows what is possible.
That sense of possibility fuels her immediate target in Senegal.
She is not shy about it: she wants gold.
“I'm looking to bring back the Youth Olympic gold medal and get a step up,” she said, repeating the aim that now defines her training.
Family in her corner
Kalsi will not walk this road alone. Her mother will travel with her to Senegal, just as she has supported her all the way through the often-unforgiving youth boxing circuit.
The stage, the stakes and the setting will all be new. The goal is not.
She is going there to win – and to prove that this is only the beginning of a career she expects to run through 2028, 2032 and beyond.
