NEW DELHI: Asian Games champion Amit Panghal (52kg) took a giant stride towards yet another gold medal as he led six Indians, four men and two women into the finals of the Asian Boxing Championships in Bangkok on Thursday.
In an electrifying performance, Amit, also a 2017 Asian Championships silver medallist, decimated China’s Jianguan Hu 4-1 to march into the summit clash.
In her first bout of the entire tournament, Pooja Rani (81kg) put up an immaculate display of power and precision to knock out Fariza Sholtay of Kazakhstan 5-0. This is her third medal from this prestigious tournament after a silver in 2012 and a bronze in 2015.
“I was playing in 81 for the first time and I was scared as my opponent was taller than me but once I stepped inside the ring, I got the confidence and played my attacking game. Tomorrow, I am up against the current World Champion and it will be my first time against her,” said Pooja Rani.
Kavinder Singh Bisht was sharp and agile as ever in the 56kg semi-final bout with Enkh-Amar Kharkhuu of Mongolia. Kavinder, the GeeBee Boxing Cup gold medallist, held his nerves to secure a 4-1 win in a nerve-wracking encounter. Bisht suffered a cut during the high-intensity contest and hopes to be fully ready for the final.
Ashish Kumar (75kg) put up an audacious display to eke out Mousavi Seyedshahin of Iran in a split 3-2 win and advance to his first ever Asian Championships final. The 2018 World Championships bronze medallist Simranjit Kaur (64kg) was too strong for Maftunakhon Melieva of Uzbekistan whom she got the better of in a unanimous decision.
Deepak (49kg) entered the final without having to enter the ring as his opponent had a cut and gave a walkover.
The 37-year-old Sarita Devi (60kg) had to be content with the bronze medal after going down to 2016 world champion Wenlu Yang of China. This was the veteran Manipur pugilist’s eighth Asian Championships medal of a glorious career that also has World Championships gold.
Sarita had won a silver in 2001 to open her medal tally from this tournament and then added five gold medals in 2003, 2005, 2008, 2010 and 2012. In 2017 she came up with a bronze.
