Race to the top: How Amit Panghal rose to World No. 1
The Indian flyweight boxer will be competing at his maiden Olympics at Tokyo 2020
Ever since his breakthrough in 2017, Amit Panghal has performed consistently in international tournaments. Ranked No 1 in the 52kg flyweight category, Panghal is one of the medal hopefuls for India at Tokyo 2020, which got underway on July 23.
Panghal, who is from Mayna village in Haryana’s Rohtak district, was inspired by his elder brother, Ajay, to take up boxing in 2007, at the age of 12. A Naib Subedar in the Indian Army, the wiry but strong Panghal found success quickly. He won a gold medal in the 25th Sub-Junior National Boxing Championship the year he took to the sport.
A year into his senior sojourn in 2016, the southpaw had started making headlines. We trace his journey to the top of the world rankings:
2017 Asian Boxing Championships
Competing in the light flyweight category at the 2017 Asian Boxing Championships in Tashkent, Panghal returned home with a bronze medal.
He swept past Afghanistan’s Ramish Rahmani 5-0 and then defeated Cornelis Kwangu Langu of Indonesia by the same margin to enter medal contention. The Indian, however, lost the semi-finals to Olympic champion Hasanboy Dusmatov of Uzbekistan to settle for a bronze.
2018 Commonwealth Games & Asian Games
In his first multi-sport event, the 2018 Commonwealth Games at the Gold Coast, Panghal won a silver medal.
After impressive performances in the quarterfinals and semi-finals, the Indian went down 1-3 to England’s Galal Yafai to earn a silver medal for the country.
Later that year, he was the only Indian boxer who won a gold medal at the Asian Games in Jakarta. Panghal edged past Dusmatov 3-2 in the final of the light flyweight division to avenge his defeat in the Asian Championships the previous year.
Panghal was honoured with the Arjuna Award in 2018 following his impressive performances at the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games. He had also won gold at the Strandja Memorial tournament earlier that year.
2019 Asian Championships
Panghal carried the momentum into 2019 despite moving up to the 52kg flyweight category.
The Indian beat Korea's Kim Inkyu Korea by a unanimous decision to claim a gold medal at the 2019 Asian Championships, held in Bangkok. Though the lanky Korean was happy to defend and play the waiting game, Panghal’s all-out aggression blew him away.
2019 World Championships
In 2019, Panghal became the first male boxer from India to win a silver medal at the World Championships.
Vijender Singh (2009), Vikas Krishan (2011), Shiva Thapa (2015) and Gaurav Bidhuri (2017) had all returned with a bronze from the world event. The Indian had defeated Kazakhstan’s Saken Bibossinov to enter the final and go farther than any Indian male boxer had.
He was up against the taller and more-experienced Shakhobidin Zoirov in the final. Though Panghal gave it all against the Uzbeki, he wasn’t able to make any headway. Zoirov, the Olympic champion, won by a unanimous 5-0 margin.
But the gold at the Asian Championships and silver at the World Championships, held in Russia, were enough to propel the Indian to the top of the world rankings.
When does Amit Panghal kick-start his campaign at Tokyo 2020?
Amit Panghal will face Colombian boxer Yuberjen Martinez in the round of 16 bout in men's flyweight category.