Going for gold

Ekaterinburg (Russia), Sept 20 

Rohtak’s Amit Panghal today become the first ever Indian male boxer to reach the final of the World Championships, while another Haryana boxer, Manish Kaushik, signed off with a bronze. Second seed Panghal prevailed 3-2 in a split decision against Kazakhstan’s Saken Bibossinov in the semifinals of the 52kg category.

However, in the semifinals of the 63kg category, Kaushik lost 0-5 to top-seeded Cuban Andy Gomez Cruz, winner of gold at the previous edition of the event. Kaushik, winner of a silver medal at last year’s Commonwealth Games, was competing in his debut World Championships, while Cruz is the reigning Pan-American Games champion as well.

Hard fight

“The bout went very well for me, although I had to put in more effort than I had thought. It is a huge achievement for Indian boxing and I am thankful for all the support that I have got,” Panghal, who turns 24 next month, said after his win today.

“I am going to push hard for a gold,” added Panghal.

Panghal has a very tough opponent in the final tomorrow — Uzbekistan’s Shakhobidin Zoirov, the reigning Olympics champion. Zoirov defeated Frenchman Billal Bennama in his semifinal showdown.

First finalist for India

By reaching the final, Panghal has gone one better than the men who had reached the semifinals — Vijender Singh (2009), Vikas Krishan (2011), Shiva Thapa (2015) and Gaurav Bidhuri (2017). His trademark pace and ability to adapt coming in handy, Panghal outmanoeuvred the taller Kazakh, who entered the semis by beating Armenia’s Artur Hovhannisyan, the reigning European champion. 

The diminutive Armyman from Rohtak was more accurate, put more power into his punches and was sharp defensively against the Kazakh. This was after Panghal spent most of the first round getting a measure of his rival. Bibossinov was no pushover either and tried his best to cash in on his height advantage. Panghal, however, managed to keep him at a distance, ensuring most of his attacks either didn’t connect or lacked in impact.

Cuban class

In the other semifinal bout featuring an Indian, Kaushik struggled to keep up with the Cuban, whose counterattacking game was simply outstanding. Kaushik did get a few body punches through but couldn’t fend off the counter-strikes that came his way in all the three rounds.

“I gave it my all but I guess there are a few things lacking in my game, which I will try to improve on. I will work harder and deliver better results in the coming tournaments,” Kaushik said. — PTI 

4 Vijender Singh (2009), Vikas Krishan (2011), Shiva Thapa (2015) and Gaurav Bidhuri (2017) are the four Indian boxers who have won the World Championships bronze medals

2 Medallists —  Amit Panghal and Manish Kaushik — for India in the single edition of World Championships. This is the most successful World Championships for India — the best that India had previously done at the event was to win a bronze, at four editions since 2009. India had never won more than one bronze medal in a single edition of the World Championships, but Panghal and Kaushik changed that by making the semifinals