A walk down memory lane: When India bagged a record 13 medals in the 2019 Asian Boxing Championship

The 2021 edition of the Asian Boxing Championships (ASBC) is ready to rumble from May 21 to 31, in New Delhi. The event was supposed to be staged in November 2020 but had to be shelved due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

Previously, India had hosted the men's event in 1980 in Mumbai, while in 2003, the women's event was organised in Hisar, Haryana.

However, in the last edition of the tournament in 2019, held in Bangkok, Thailand, India boxers had a gala time as they bagged 13 medals, their best-ever haul in the event. It included two gold, four silver and seven bronze medals.

Let us take a look at the winner's list in detail from the 2019 event.

Amit Panghal

Amit Panghal (52 kg) won gold after he defeated DPR Korea's Kim In-kyu in a unanimous decision. What made it more remarkable was that it was his first international tournament since he moved from 49 kg to 52 kg. This was his second medal in ASBC after a bronze in 2017. Previously he had beaten Olympic champion Hasanboy Dusmatov.

Pooja Rani

Pooja Rani (81kg) defeated then reigning world champion Wang Lina in the final. Incidentally, it was also her first year in the 81kg category as she was a regular in the 75kg. She won the fight 4-1 in a split verdict. It was her third medal from ASBC, after winning a silver in 2012 and bronze in 2015, and India's first in this category in the competition.

Kavinder Singh Bisht

Kavinder Singh Bisht (56kg) won silver after he was defeated by Uzbekistan's Mirazizbek Mirzahalilov. He had sustained an injury in the semi-finals and had a cut over his right eye. He gave his all but still went down 5-0.

Deepak Singh

Deepak Singh (49 kg) was locked in an intense battle with Nodirjon Mirzakhmedov of Uzbekistan but ultimately went down in a split decision of 3-2 to settle for a silver.

Ashish Kumar

Ashish Kumar (75 kg) was no match for Kazakhstan's Tursynbay Kulakhmet as he lost 5-0 in the final and won silver. However, this was his first medal in ASBC.

Simranjit Kaur

Simranjit Kaur (64kg) had a smooth sailing till the final until she met China's Dan Dou. Dou beat her 4-1 to win gold and she had to remain content with silver. The Chinese puggilist had defeated her previously as well in the world championship in 2018.

Shiva Thapa

Shiva Thapa (60kg) won bronze after he was defeated in the semi-finals 4-1 by Safiullin Zakir of Uzbekistan.

Satish Kumar

Satish Kumar (91+ kg) won bronze after he gave a walkover to Kunkabayev Kamshybek of Kazakhstan in the semi-finals. He beat Kim Dohyeon of Korea in the last eight by a 3-2 verdict.

Ashish

Ashish (69 kg) won bronze after he was comprehensively beaten 5-0 by Baturov Bobo-Usmon of Uzbekistan.

Nikhat Zareen

Nikhat Zareen (51 kg) had to settle for a bronze after she was defeated 5-0 by Vietnam's Nguyen Thi Tam.

Manisha Moun

Manisha Moun (54 kg) was one of the four girls who won bronze after falling 3-2 to Huang Hsiao-Wen of Chinese Taipei.

Sonia Chahal

Sonia Chahal (57 kg) put up stiff resistance in the semi-finals against Techasuep Nilawan of Thailand but ultimately went down 3-2 to win bronze.

Laishram Sarita Devi

Laishram Sarita Devi (60 kg) also put up a close fight against Yang Wenlu of China but went down in a split verdict of 3-2 to win the bronze medal.

It must be noted that of the medal winners from the 2019 edition, the following have qualified for the Tokyo Olympics:

1. Amit Panghal (Men's, 52kg)

2. Pooja Rani (Women's, 75kg)

3. Ashish Kumar (Men's, 75kg)

4. Simranjit Kaur (Women's, 60kg)

5. Satish Kumar (Men's, 91kg)

Apart from these five, four other pugilists have also qualified for Tokyo 2020 - Lovlina Borgohain (Women's, 69kg), Mary Kom (Women's, 51kg), Manish Kaushik (Men's, 63kg) and Vikas Krishan (Men's, 69kg).