In a convincing victory in Shillong on Friday, boxer Amit Panghal established himself as the national champion in the 51kg weight class.
Boxer Amit Panghal established himself in the 51kg weight class on Friday in Shillong, securing the national title with a commanding victory. Panghal was overlooked for the World Championships and the Asian Games this year. Anshul Punia of Chandigarh was defeated 5-0 by the 2019 global silver champion. Based on the new selection procedure implemented by the Boxing Federation of India this year, Panghal lost his spot in the Indian squad for the world championships and the Asian Games to Deepak Bhoria, the bronze medallist from the 2023 world championships.
Panghal’s confidence will soar after the national team triumph; the gold medallist from the Commonwealth Games is now planning to rejoin the Indian squad for the February Olympic qualifying tournament in Paris.
He will face off against Bhoria, who qualified for the nationals without having to compete because of his successful medal-winning performance at the Worlds earlier this year.
Veteran boxer Shiva Thapa, a six-time medallist at the Asian Championships, won the 63.5kg title at the National Championships to continue his incredible streak.
The Assam fighter overcame Vanshaj, the medallist from the global youth championships, by unanimous decision.
In the first Olympic qualifying event, the Asian Games, none of the male boxers from India were able to meet their quotas. The coaches and high performance director were forced by this to scout for fresh talent at the nationals.
Apart from Panghal and Thapa, though, athletes that competed in the Asian Games and won national medals in the Olympic classifications included Sachin Siwach (57 kg), Lakshay Chahar (80 kg), and 2021 Asian champion Sanjeet (92 kg).
Chahar and Sanjeet also recorded easy victories over Harsh Choudhary and Naveen Kmar, respectively, while Siwach defeated Sachin of the RSPB 5-0.
Silver medallist Sagar Ahlawat of the Commonwealth Games was disappointed, though, when he fell to Punjab’s Jaipal Singh in the 92kg title match.
Sagar was eliminated by Jaipal in the third round.
Varinder Singh won the 60kg title by unanimous decision over Akash, while SSCB’s Deepak defeated Ishmeet Singh of RSPB 5-0 in the 75kg summit bout.
