Last swing for Panghal to book his Paris berth

Bangkok, May 23

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Indian pugilists will be determined to overcome the recent setbacks both inside and outside the boxing ring when they aim for the last available tickets to the Olympics at the second World Qualification Tournament, starting here on Friday.

Up until the last qualifying event, Indian boxers had four quotas but that number is now down to three after women’s 57kg holder Parveen Hooda was handed a 22-month ban for whereabouts failure this month.

The boxers’ performance at the previous world qualifiers in March was dismal to say the least with only 2023 World Championships bronze medallist Nishant Dev moving past the opening round.

This also triggered a coaching crisis as High Performance Director Bernard Dunne resigned.

“From the Thailand qualifiers, we definitely hope to clinch four-five quota places and we are hoping for the best. This time we have a definite chance,” Indian boxing coach CA Kuttappa said.

The Boxing Federation of India has made several changes, with India’s lone male World Championships silver medallist Amit Panghal back in the mix after Deepak Bhoria failed to win a quota in the first two qualifying events in the 51kg category. Panghal is coming off a gold winning run at the Strandja Memorial tournament.