Amit Panghal on Saturday became the eighth Indian boxer ever to claim a gold medal at the Asian Games, with a stunning tactical win over reigning Olympic and Asian champion Hasanboy Dusmatov at the summit clash in Jakarta on Saturday.
The 22-year-old Armyman, the only Indian to make it to the finals, prevailed 3-2 against the more fancied Dusmatov, who had beaten him in a split verdict in last year’s world championships.
Amit, making his debut at the Games, showed immense tactical brilliance, especially in defence to outwit the Uzbek, who has an iconic status in international boxing. Dusmatov had won a silver in the world championship last year.
But this time, the Haryana-boxer extracted a sweet revenge for the narrow loss in Hamburg, keeping his range and striking some clean right hooks and jabs to his Uzbek opponent.
The Uzbek southpaw, known for his brilliant counter-attacks, seemed wary of the constantly-on-the-move Indian, who refused to fall into the trap of diving in.
This win marks the highest point in Amit's meteoric rise to the top, starting with an Asian Championships bronze last year. A world quarter-finalist, Amit claimed a silver in the Commonwealth Games.
As he added the Asian Games medal to his Arsenal, twitter was quick to congratulate the 22-year-old boxer, including sports minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore:
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