Commonwealth Games boxing: Olympians Amit Panghal, Shiva Thapa punch Birmingham tickets
An eight-member men’s Indian boxing team for CWG 2022 was chosen after the selection trials in Patiala.
Olympians Amit Panghal and Shiva Thapa will lead the men’s Indian boxing team at the Commonwealth Games 2022 after winning their respective selection trials on Thursday.
Six other Indian boxers also confirmed their Birmingham Games berths at the selection trials held at the Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports in Patiala.
Tokyo 2020 Olympian Amit Panghal returned with a silver from the previous Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia.
The 2019 world championship silver winner Amit Panghal defeated Deepak 4-1 in the trials to represent India in the flyweight division in Birmingham.
Meanwhile, Shiva Thapa, the former Asian champion and 2015 world bronze medallist, ousted CWG 2018 silver winner Manish Kaushik to book the 63.5kg slot at Birmingham 2022.
This will be Shiva Thapa’s second Commonwealth Games appearance, after losing in the round of 16 in 2014 in Glasgow. He did not compete in 2018.
Joining Amit and Shiva for Birmingham were Mohammad Hussamuddin (57kg), the bronze medallist from 2018, Rohit Tokas (67kg), Sumit Kundu (75kg), Ashish Chaudhary (80kg), Sanjeet (92kg) and Sagar (92+kg).
Hussamuddin claimed a 4-1 win against the 2019 Asian championship silver medallist Kavinder Singh Bisht to make the cut.
Sagar, meanwhile, beat the reigning national champion Narender 5-0 in the +92kg final. Sagar had an impressive run at the trials, which included stunning Tokyo Olympian Satish Kumar in the semis.
However, the two gold medallists from last time, Vikas Krishan and Gaurav Solanki, won’t be defending their titles in Birmingham. Indian boxers had finished second in the 2018 CWG, securing nine medals, including three gold and as many silver and bronze medals.
The trials for the women’s boxing team will be held next week.
The Commonwealth Games 2022 are scheduled for July 28 to August 8 later this year.
Indian men’s boxing team for Commonwealth Games 2022
Amit Panghal (51kg), Mohammad Hussamuddin (57kg), Shiva Thapa (63.5kg), Rohit Tokas (67kg), Sumit Kundu (75kg), Ashish Chaudhary (80kg), Sanjeet (92kg), Sagar (92+kg)