Amit Panghal continues golden run; Pooja on top among women at Asian C’ships

Amit Panghal (52kg) picked up his second successive gold medal of the year, while Pooja Rani (81kg) finished on top among the women to bring a fine end to India’s phenomenal campaign in the Asian Boxing Championships here Friday. India ended the event with 13 medals — two gold, four silver and seven bronze medals — in the tournament which was held simultaneously for men and women for the first time.Panghal, who won the Asian Games gold medal last year, defeated Korea’s Kim Inkyu in a unanimous decision. He came into the tournament on the back of a gold at the Strandja Memorial Tournament in February in Bulgaria.The 28-year-old Pooja, a silver-medallist at the event in 2012, struck gold among the women by defeating China’s Wang Lina.The Haryana-pugilist took to boxing against the wishes of her father, who relented after a six months of pleadings by the boxer and her coaches in Bhiwani. She also has an Asian Games bronze medal, which she claimed in 2014. However, national champion Deepak Singh (49kg), Kavinder Singh Bisht (56kg) and Ashish Kumar (75kg) signed off with silver medals among the men after contrsating losses. In the women’s draw, national champion Simrajit Kaur (64kg) ended with a silver medal.
The previous best by Indian men at this tournament was in 2009, when the team won a gold, two silver and four bronze and they equalled that performance this year.
Shiva Thapa (60kg), Ashish (69kg) and Satish Kumar (+91kg) claimed bronze medals among the men this time.
This was Panghal’s maiden international competition since moving up to 52kg from the 49kg division earlier this year. Panghal had won a bronze in the 2015 edition of the event.
Up against a lanky opponent, who was willing to play the waiting game, Panghal started in his usual aggressive style.
The strategy of stumping rivals with relentless attacks paid off against Inkyu and the Korean simply had no answer to Panghal’s aggression.The Indian managed to corner his rival quite often and his solid defences thwarted the feeble attempts at connecting by Inkyu.