'Devastated' Amit Panghal stares at uncertain future

On Monday, 19 Indian boxers boarded for Tashkent in Uzbekistan for the World Championships that begin on April 30. Of those, only one pugilist has made the final of the competition in the past. Oddly enough, he will pack his bags and head home in two weeks when the pre-tournament conditioning camp ends and the Championships begin. So, when Amit Panghal says he is "devastated" at missing out on the World Championships, one is inclined to believe.

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"I competed in the World Championships final the last time (in 2019). I am the only male boxer in our history to go that far. Obviously, it is a bitter pill to take. I was in really good rhythm, my confidence was high, and I was looking forward to my first international outing since my Commonwealth Games (CWG) gold," Panghal said.

The 27-year-old has long been a boxing enigma. Even at his peak, he rarely allowed an insight into his thought process, sticking mostly to mundane monosyllable. When his fortunes nosedived in the opening round of the Tokyo Olympics where he was given a proper hiding by Colombia's Yuberjen Martinez, Panghal became a recluse, opening up after nearly four months.

He won a silver medal at the Thailand Open last year and followed it with a maiden CWG gold in Birmingham to indicate that the scars of Tokyo might finally be beginning to fade. However, when the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) announced the squad on April 8, the 51kg spot was taken by another army boxer Deepak Bhoria, who first hit the headlines in early 2021 when he defeated the 2016 Rio Olympics gold medallist and 2019 world champion Shakhobidin Zoirov of Uzbekistan at the Strandja Memorial.

Incidentally Panghal, then an undisputed favourite in the flyweight division, lost to Zoirov twice in 2021 — Governor's Cup semi-final in St Petersburg, Russia and Asian Championships in Dubai — in addition to his 2019 World Championships final loss to the Uzbek. While officials in BFI refuse to put a finger on what has worked for Bhoria and subsequently what has gone wrong with Panghal, the latter believes a bit of transparency would have helped him cope with the heartbreak better.

"It is a shattering blow, to be honest. I have been training really hard in the camp and was raring to do one better than my last performance at Worlds and win gold. I wish I was given proper reasons for being left out," the former world No 1 said.

The team for Worlds has been picked in line with BFI's high-performance director Bernard Dunne's policy of moving away from the selection trials and relying on periodic evaluation during the national camp. The boxers were judged for three weeks beginning March 11. He scored 238 points in the first week, 223 in the second, and 221 in the third for a total of 682 points.

Bhoria scored 247, 247, and 237, totalling 731, 49 points clear of Panghal, relegating him to the second spot in the 51kg class. Of the 41 national campers who were evaluated, only seven managed to cross the 700 mark, with Bhoria's 731 being the highest.

"I respect the evaluation process but I have never been informed on what grounds we were evaluated. Just being told that I have not scored enough is quite vague," Panghal said.

"Sparring and boxing in camps is very different from how I box in competition. I believe a trial is a better method to decide the better boxer. Sometimes in camps, boxers desist from giving their 100 percent because they don't want to risk injuries or show all their cards. Trials are a different ballgame," Panghal, who beat Bhoria 4-1 in the CWG trials to punch his ticket to Birmingham, said.

Former World Championships bronze medallist (1994) Venkatesan Devarajan agreed. "Trials are a more transparent way to gauge a boxer. One can see how a boxer responds in competition scenario, how his/her footwork changes under pressure, whether or not a boxer can adapt to varying opponents," he said.

Technically, Panghal's speed and style of boxing have been his biggest allies and Devarajan didn't find too many gaps in his gameplan.

"Tactically and technically, I feel he has matured a lot. Over the years, Amit has learned to control the bouts. I have seen him adapt his tactics depending on his opponents, which is a sign of maturity. People still talk about his Tokyo loss but we must not forget that Tokyo was a collective failure and a result of wrong planning."

"We should not sideline experience. Dingko Singh was dropped for the 1998 CWG but he came back to win an Asian Games gold a few months later. Panghal is a very experienced boxer and I feel we must give him a fair run. Vijender Singh and Akhil Kumar were all given decent chances to perform," added Devarajan, the first Indian pugilist to win a World Championships medal on foreign soil.

For Panghal, the decision has left his immediate future clouded in confusion. While the World Championships won't offer quota places for the 2024 Paris Olympics, a decent performance by Bhoria will give him a significant lead going into this year's Asian Games, which that will be a Paris qualifier. With a selection trial for Asiad unlikely as of now — if BFI adheres to its policy — Panghal has reasons to be worried.

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