Asian Boxing Championships: Amit Panghal clinches gold, Deepak settles for silver

Indian pugilist Amit Panghal continued his good run of form in Asia as he won the gold medal in the 52-kg category at Asian Boxing Championships on Friday amid a good showing by Indian boxers in the competition. Panghal was in decimating form against his opponent in the final to win the elusive yellow metal. Amit faced Korea's Kim Inkyu in the gold medal bout and defeated him by a hefty margin of 5-0. Panghal had also won the gold medal at the Asian Games last year, which is why with this win, he has established his hold over his Asian counterparts. Earlier, Panghal had knocked down Hu Jianguan of China 4-1 in a split verdict to book his place in the summit showdown of the tournament. Deepak Singh, the other Indian in the fray, settled for the silver medal after slumping to a defeat at the hands of Nodirjon Mirzahmedov of Uzbekistan by a split verdict in the final of the men's 42kg category. However, national champion Deepak Singh (49kg) had to settle for a silver after going down in a split verdict to Nodirjon Mirzahmedov of Uzbekistan. India have challenged the verdict under the Bout Review System and a decision is awaited on it. 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. Earlier, Deepak put up a gutsy performance that failed to find favour with the judges. It was a bout in which both the boxers were mostly looking to counter-attack. Deepak’s focus was getting his straight punches across, while Mirzahmedov looked to connect right hooks occasionally.