We are entering the Asian games high on confidence, says Amit Panghal

08/16/2018

Indian boxer Amit Panghal has stated that Indian boxers are high on confidence after there rich medal haul at the Commonwealth Games and a good preparation in the UK and will enter the Asian Games in that spirit. He also mentioned that he will try to make it up for missing out on the CWG gold medal.

Amit Panghal is known for his gold medal in his debut appearance at the national championship 2017. He also won a bronze medal in the light flyweight category of the 2017 Amateur Boxing Championships in Tashkent in May 2017 and qualified for 2017 AIBA World Boxing Championship, where he lost in the quarterfinal against Olympic gold medalist, Hasanboy Dusmatov of Uzbekistan. In February 2018 he won gold at the Strandzha Cup in Sofia after which he was named in the Indian contingent for 2018 Commonwealth Games, where he won a silver medal.

After a tremendous medal haul at the Commonwealth Games, Amit Paghal believes that the Indian boxing team is full of confidence and this spirit shall drive them to work harder and perform better at the upcoming Asian Games. He also mentioned that no boxer is under any kind of a pressure ahead of the tournament.

“No there isn’t any such pressure on us. On the contrary, the boxers have trained a lot more for this. We are entering the Asian Games high on confidence, and that should translate to medals for us," said Panghal on the sidelines of a send-off event organised by the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) in New Delhi on Tuesday.

Panghal lost to England's Galal Yafai in the gold medal match at the Gold Coast Games (CWG 2018) earlier in April, setting for silver in the process. The boxer from Haryana, though, has no regrets about finishing second-best in the event, and is planning to make up for that loss in Indonesia.

“It was a great feeling. I was very happy, as were my family and relatives. Entered the competition with gold in mind, and gave my hundred percent in the final, but am happy with the silver. Will try and make up for it (missing out on gold) in the upcoming Asian Games,” Panghal said.

Panghal will be making his debut at the Asian Games this month. The Indian boxing team had a training session in the United Kingdom ahead of the event that is to be hosted at Jakarta and Palembang, and Panghal said that the experience will come in handy for them when they are up against some of the world's toughest boxers in the forthcoming event. Panghal added that the Indian pugilists have trained a lot harder this time around than what they had put in in past tournaments.

“Preparation is going very well. We’re back from our training in the UK. We’re following whatever coach Santiago’s (Nieva) advising us, as well as the Indian coaches. We had a very good training stint in the UK. We’ve learnt a lot training with them (British boxers), which will come in handy for us at the Asian Games,” Panghal said.

Panghal also mentioned that the standard of boxing at the Asian Games is considered to be higher than that of the Commonwealth Games, given that countries such as Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, which produce Olympic medallists on a regular basis, are in the fray. Panghal, who had lost to Uzbek boxer Hasanboy Dustamov in the quarter-finals of the 2017 AIBA World Championships, says that he's prepared to face them this time around.

“Boxers from Uzbekistan are Olympic champions. My bouts against the Uzbeks will be quite tough, as was the case in the past as well when I had suffered losses against them. This time I’m fully prepared to face them, and will give my best to defeat them,” Paghal concluded.

The Asian Games will take place between 18 August and 2 September while the boxing events are slated to take place at the Jakarta International Expo Hall starting 24 August, with the final round of bouts taking place on the penultimate day of the event.

We are entering the Asian games high on confidence, says Amit Panghal

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