Boxing: Amit Panghal, Shiva Thapa Strike Gold At Nationals

Ignored for this year's World Championships and Asian Games, boxer Amit Panghal stamped his authority in the 51kg weight class as he clinched the national title with a comprehensive win in Shillong on Friday. The 2019 worlds silver medallist defeated Chandigarh's Anshul Punia 5-0. Panghal had lost his place in the Indian squad for this year's world championships and Asian Games to 2023 worlds bronze medallist Deepak Bhoria based on Boxing Federation of India's new selection policy that came into being this year.

The victory in the nationals will boost Panghal's confidence as the Commonwealth Games gold medallist will now be eyeing a return to the Indian team for the Paris Olympic qualifiers in February.

He will compete with Bhoria for the spot, who was exempted from the nationals owing to his medal-winning performance in the Worlds earlier this year.

Veteran boxer Shiva Thapa, who is a six-time Asian Championships medallist, continued his scintillating run at the National Championships by winning the 63.5kg title.

The Assam boxer defeated world youth championships medallist Vanshaj by an unanimous verdict.

None of the Indian male boxers were able to fetch quotas in the first Olympic qualifiers -- the Asian Games. This had compelled the high performance director and coaches to look out for new talent at the nationals.

However, the likes of Sachin Siwach (57kg), Lakshay Chahar (80kg) and 2021 Asian champion Sanjeet (92kg), who were part of the Asian Games squad, won national titles in the Olympic categories apart from Panghal and Thapa.

While Siwach defeated RSPB's Sachin 5-0, Chahar and Sanjeet too notched up facile 5-0 wins over Harsh Choudhary and Naveen Kmar respectively.

However, it was disappointment for Commonwealth