Amit Panghal headlines India’s hopes at the World Olympic Boxing qualifiers in Bangkok, which will be the country’s last opportunity, particularly amongst the male boxers, to earn quota spots for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
A series of disastrous attempts over the last couple of years have so far ended with nothing to show for the efforts of India’s male boxers. But on the back of a camp where they sparred against athletes from multiple countries at the event venue in Thailand as well as a rejig of boxers in certain weight classes, the ten-strong Indian contingent will have varying degrees of chances to win quota spots for Paris.
Overall, three quotas each are on offer in the women’s 60kg, men’s 57kg and 80kg divisions. Five quotas can be won in the men’s 63.5kg and 71kg categories. The rest of the classes all have four quotas on offer with each country being able to take one quota each in a weight category.
Indian boxers have faced a multitude of challenges on their path to these qualifiers – from domestic clashes in certain weight classes, and the departures of key coaching personnel to the challenges they’ve had to face in qualifying tournaments.
Lack of seedings at the Asian Games saw many men’s pugilists, bar Shiva Thapa, receive tough draws. It meant that Deepak Bhoria in the 51kg category and Nishant Dev in 71kg – both bronze medallists at the 2023 World Championships, were felled early on and weren’t able to assure India of a quota. Bhoria’s poor showing continued in the first World Olympic Boxing qualifiers where he was stunned early and made a quick exit. Dev reached the quarterfinals and was one win away from a quota but lost a close split decision 1-4 to USA’s 2021 World Championship silver medallist Omari Jones.
All these setbacks have meant that where India had nine boxers at the Tokyo Olympics, at the current count that number stands at a meager three – all of those quotas won by the women boxers in Hangzhou (Four quotas were won but Parveen Hooda’s whereabouts failure means India will have to fight for the 57kg quota again at these qualifiers, where Jaismine will be in fray).
Amit Panghal headlines India’s hopes at the World Olympic Boxing qualifiers in Bangkok. (X/Boxing Federation Of India)
The failure at the first World Olympic Boxing qualifiers saw heads roll with high-performance director Bernard Dunne resigning from his post. The current think-tank then ended the Deepak Bhoria experiment. In came 2021 World Championship silver medallist Panghal, fresh off a gold at the Strandja Memorial.
All eyes on Amit
Panghal had been in a three-year-long standoff over his exclusion from top events, went to court on multiple occasions to fight against the selection policy of the Boxing Federation of India. After winning the Strandja Memorial, he spoke to The Indian Express about the injustice he felt in his continued exclusion.
“I have won the gold medal at the Asian Games and the silver medal at the World Championships. The boxers that I have beaten handily, he (Bhoria) has lost to them in this cycle. The boxer that I was dominating in training before the World Championships (2023) regularly, beat him at the Asian Games,” said Panghal back then.
His return though comes with a lot fewer bouts against some of the top boxers in and around his weight category after two World Championships and an Asian Games. That and the added field due to these qualifiers being a world event means that Panghal will have a tough time in his one and only attempt to make it to the Paris Olympics.
But with his proven quality, along with Sachin Siwach moving up to the 57kg category and Jaismine moving down to the 57kg category in the women’s division – India’s chances for further quotas in Bangkok look far more an open opportunity than they would have if the earlier set of boxers would have made their way to the Thai capital.
National team coach CA Kuttapa was optimistic about quota chances for Indian boxers and said that he was expecting multiple boxers to do well, largely owing to their recent sparring performances against boxers from different countries.
“From the Thailand qualifiers, we definitely hope to clinch 4-5 quota places and we are hoping for the best. This time we have a definite chance, Kuttapa was quoted as saying by SAI. “Our boxers are in a good mental position now. The confidence from the sparring sessions has risen and psychologists are playing a key role to keep them away from pressure.”
India’s squad for 2nd Paris 2024 World Olympic Boxing Qualification Tournament:
Women: Jaismine Lamboria (57kg), Ankushita Boro (60kg), Arundhati Choudhary (66kg).
Men: Amit Panghal (51kg), Sachin Siwach Jr. (57kg), Abhinash Jamwal (63.5kg), Nishant Dev (71kg), Abhimanyu Loura (80kg), Sanjeet (92kg), Narender Berwal (+92kg).
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