Amit Panghal: Want to gauge my speed, endurance at Boxam boxing meet
The Indian boxer also spoke about how smaller events were important to finetune preparations for the Tokyo Olympics.
With the Tokyo Olympics approaching, Indian boxer Amit Panghal has earmarked the upcoming Boxam meet in Valencia, Spain, to test the improvements in his speed and endurance.
Amit Panghal is among nine top Indian boxers who will be in Spain to participate at the Boxam boxing meet from March 1 to 7.
The others are Olympic medallist MC Mary Kom, Vikas Krishan, Ashish Kumar, Satish Kumar, Simranjit Kaur, Lovlina Borgohain and Pooja Rani.
All nine have already qualified for the Tokyo Olympics to be held in July this year.
“Ideally, I want to assess my game as a whole at Boxam. Every aspect will be tested at the Olympics,” Amit Panghal told the Olympic Channel.
“But of late, our training has been focused on speed and endurance. So, Boxam would be a nice place to judge how much my speed and endurance has improved.”
The current AIBA world No. 1 in the men’s 52kg weight class, Amit Panghal admitted that the focus of the entire group is already on Tokyo but stressed the importance of the smaller events on the build-up to the big event.
“These competitions before the Olympics are a big boon for us as they help us finetune our preparation better. These give us the opportunity to test ourselves against different opponents, with different fighting styles,” Panghal stated.
While for many in the group of nine, Boxam will mark their return to the boxing ring after almost a year-long COVID-enforced hiatus, Panghal got back to competitive mode at the Cologne Boxing World Cup in Germany in December.
Panghal beat 2019 world championships bronze medallist Billal Bennama of France in the semi-finals en route to winning the gold medal in his event.
“Before Cologne, I had only been training. So, it was difficult to gauge where I stood. The Cologne World Cup proved that I am in good shape. I beat a world championship bronze medallist there. He is a good boxer, a tall one,” he noted.
Before committing to the upcoming Boxam event, Panghal was expected to participate at the Iranian Boxing League in Tehran, from February 22 to March 5.
Asked about the last-minute change of plans, Panghal revealed, “Our coach (Santiago Nieva) assesses these competitions very carefully. He was of the opinion that the level of competition in the Boxam tournament would be better. So, the first team was chosen to participate there.”
“That’s why I too chose Boxam over Iran,” he added.
Another Indian boxing team is currently in action at the Strandja Memorial tournament in Bulgaria.