Representing India in Men's 52 kg boxing in Tokyo Olympics, Amit Panghal is an amateur boxer from Haryana who won a gold medal in Boxing World Cup 2020.
Amateur boxing is a variant of boxing practiced at the collegiate level, at the Olympic Games, Pan American Games, and Commonwealth Games.
Amit Panghal's personal life
Born in Haryana's Rohtak district, the 25-year-old is a son of a farmer while his brother serves in the Indian Army. Before boxing, he too served in the army as a junior commissioned officer. His brother Ajay Panghal was an amateur boxer himself who inspired Amit to take up boxing in 2007.
Amit Panghal's career in boxing
He made his debut appearance in 2017 and won the gold medal at the National Boxing Championships. Later, Panghal emerged as the national champion in 49 kg and shone at the Asian Amateur Boxing Championships in Tashkent by bagging a bronze. He qualified for the AIBA World Boxing Championships but lost in the quarterfinal.
In 2018, Panghal snatched the silver medal at Commonwealth Games in the light flyweight category. He also claimed his second international gold in Sofia defeating Morocco's Said Mordaj the same year.
In 2019, Panghal won the Gold Medal at Asian Boxing Championship 2019 in Bangkok. In the same year, Panghal became the first Indian boxer to win a silver medal at the 2019 AIBA World Boxing Championships, losing to Uzbekistan's Shakhobidin Zoirov.
Tokyo Olympics 2020
In 2020, he got his ticket for the Tokyo Olympics he defeating the Philippines' Carlo Paalam in the 52-kg category. In December, he won a gold medal in Boxing World Cup 2020 held in Germany.
This year, Panghal again lost the Asian Championships against Zoirov despite three out of five judges scoring the last two rounds for him.
For Tokyo Olympics, Panghal wants his childhood coach Anil Dhankar to be there. After losing in the Asian Championships, he tagged Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju in a tweet and said his only wish is that his coach standing alongside him during the Tokyo medal ceremony.
Speaking on his training, Panghal said his priority is to focus on his reach and endurance as there are tall boxers in the 52-kg competition. He added that training abroad ahead of the Olympics will help him to expand his reach due to international boxers in the ring.
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