Ignored for this year's World Championships and Asian Games, boxer Amit Panghal stamped his authority in the 51kg weight class as he clinched the national title with a comprehensive win in Shillong on Friday. (Boxing News)
The 201💛9 world silver medallist defeated Chandigarh's Anshul Punia 5-0.
Panghal had lost his place in ♏the Indian squad for this year's world championships and Asian Games to 2023 world bronze medallist Deepak Bhoria based on the Boxing Federation of India's new selection policy that came into being this year.
The victory in the nationals will boost ﷽Panghal's confidence as the Commo🔜nwealth Games gold medallist will now be eyeing a return to the Indian team for the Paris Olympic qualifiers in February.
He will com𓄧pete with Bhoria for the spot, who was exempted from the nationals owi𓃲ng to his medal-winning performance in the Worlds earlier this year.
Veteran boxer Shiva Thapa, who is a six-time Asian Championships medallist, con♉tinued his scintillating run at the National Championships by winning the 63.5kg title.
The Assam boxer defeated world youth champion🍎ships medallist Vanshaj by an unanimous verdict.
None of the 🌠Indian male boxers were able to fetch quotas in the first Olympic qualifiers -- the Asian Games. This compelled the high-performance director and coaches to look out for new talent at the nationals.
However, the likes of Sachin Siwach (57kg), Lakshay Chahar (80kg) and 2021 Asian champion Sanjeet (92kg), who were part of the Asian Games squad, won national titles in the Olympic categories apa𒁏rt from Panghal and Thapa.
While Siwach defeated RSPB's Sachin 5-0, Chahar and Sanjeet notched up facile 5-0 wins over Haಞrsh Choudhary and Naveen Kumar respectively.
However, it was a disappointment for Commonwealth Games silver medallist Sagar Ahlawat who lost the +92kg title bout to Jaipal Singh🍃 of Punjab.
Jaipal knocked out Sagar in the third round.
In the 75kg summit clash, SSCB's Deepak defeated Ishmeet Singh of RSPB 5-0, while Vಌarinder Singh grabbed the 60kg title with a unanimous decision win ove🥃r Akash.
