Amit Panghal (52kg) and Kavinder Singh Bisht (56kg) remained on course for their second successive international gold medals this year as India looked good to notch up its best-ever performance in the Asian Boxing Championships here on Thursday.
Amit Panghal
Bangkok:
Panghal defeated China’s Hu Jianguan in a split verdict, which was a surprise given that the Indian was clearly the more dominant of the two boxers. Bisht turned in a lion-hearted show in a bloody battle which left him and his opponent, Mongolian Enkh-Amar Khakhuu, with bandaged right eyes. The draining fight ended 3-2 in the Indian’s favour.
Thapa came out all guns blazing against Kazakhstan’s Zakir Safiullin, but a loss of momentum in the final round ended up tilting the scales against him in a split decision by the judges. Also finishing with a bronze among men were Ashish (69kg) and Satish Kumar (+91kg).
While Ashish was beaten 0-5 by Uzbekistan’s Bobo-Usmon Baturov, Satish was forced to give a walkover to Kazakh Kamshybek Kunkabayev owing to an injury sustained in the previous bout.
Settling for bronze medals among the women were L Sarita Devi (60kg), Manisha (54kg), Nikhat Zareen (51kg) and Sonia Chahal (57kg).
Panghal and Bisht were the most impressive on a day when Shiva Thapa’s (60kg) unprecedented fourth successive semi-final appearance ended with a bronze. Deepak Singh (49kg) and Ashish Kumar (75kg) joined Panghal and Bisht in the men’s finals, while Pooja Rani (81kg) and Simranjit Kaur (64kg) advanced to Friday’s summit clashes in the women’s draw.
Panghal defeated China’s Hu Jianguan in a split verdict, which was a surprise given that the Indian was clearly the more dominant of the two boxers. Bisht turned in a lion-hearted show in a bloody battle which left him and his opponent, Mongolian Enkh-Amar Khakhuu, with bandaged right eyes. The draining fight ended 3-2 in the Indian’s favour.
Thapa came out all guns blazing against Kazakhstan’s Zakir Safiullin, but a loss of momentum in the final round ended up tilting the scales against him in a split decision by the judges. Also finishing with a bronze among men were Ashish (69kg) and Satish Kumar (+91kg).
While Ashish was beaten 0-5 by Uzbekistan’s Bobo-Usmon Baturov, Satish was forced to give a walkover to Kazakh Kamshybek Kunkabayev owing to an injury sustained in the previous bout.
Settling for bronze medals among the women were L Sarita Devi (60kg), Manisha (54kg), Nikhat Zareen (51kg) and Sonia Chahal (57kg).