Panghal, Kaushik add to Indian cheer at Boxing World Championships
Pugilists record comfortable wins while Ashish Kumar bows out on a split decision.
Indian pugilists enjoyed another fruitful day at the Men’s World Boxing Championships in Yekaterinburg on Saturday, with Amit Panghal and Manish Kaushik making further progress with fine wins.
Ashish Kumar though suffered defeat.
No stopping Panghal
Amit Panghal was in his element during his flyweight (52kg) bout against Chinese Taipei’s Tu Po-Wei as he ruled over his opponent and was declared the winner through unanimous decision (5-0) after three rounds of boxing.
The Asian Games gold medallist dominated proceedings right from the beginning, delivering heavy blows whenever given an opportunity. Po-Wei, on his part, avoided engagement as much as he could and was duly warned by the referee.
A quarterfinalist at the previous edition, Panghal was precise with his punches and hardly broke a sweat while defending his ground. Riding high on confidence, Panghal proved to be too hot to handle despite Po-Wei attacking in the final round.
The 23-year-old will take on Turkey’s Baluhan Citfci in the Round of 16 fight on September 17.
Kaushik no sweat
While Panghal set the tone for the Indians with a fine show, Kaushik managed to build on that as he dismantled his Dutch opponent Enrico Lacruz in his lightweight (63kg) bout to progress to the next round on the back of a unanimous 5-0 victory.
Heading straight into the attack, the Commonwealth Games silver medallist showed no mercy in landing some severe blows to his opponent’s jaw.
While engaged in a war of punches, it was Kaushik who always came on top. The Indian made the most of the momentum and was rightly guided throughout the bout by his team’s constant counsel.
Ashish fails to deliver
Meanwhile, Ashish Kumar's loss was the only low point of the day for India as he went down fighting to China’s Tanglatihan Tuohetaerbieke by split decision, 3-2.
In a tightly fought contest, the seventh seed in the middleweight (75kg) category, Ashish, wasted no time and went for the kill from the very first minute. But it was the Chinese who landed clear punches, pegging the Indian back time and again.
The second round, however, was all about the Indian’s intelligence. Making good use of the ring, he gave his opponent no clear openings for attack and remained calculated in his bout.
As the bout entered its final round, he did exactly what his coach asked him not to. In desperation to land a few punches, the Indian lost his guard and, in the midst, gave his opponent a clear opening.