World Championship medallists Amit Panghal and Sachin Siwach won a gold each while Nikhat Zareen clinched silver at the Strandja Memorial.
World Championship medallists Amit Panghal and Sachin Siwach won a gold each. At the same time, Nikhat Zareen and three other Indians signed off with silver medals at the 75th Strandja Memorial tournament here on Sunday.
The 2019 Worlds silver medallist Panghal (51kg) pulled off a dominating 5-0 triumph over Kazakhstan’s Sanzhar Tashkenbay in the men’s flyweight final. In a commanding performance, Panghal landed powerful punches and Tashkenbay had no answers. Panghal had clinched the bronze medal in 2017 while winning back-to-back titles in 2018 and 2019.
Read more: Amit Panghal, Akash, Abhimanyu display stellar performance at Strandja Memorial Tournament
Though Panghal will not be part of the Olympic qualifiers in Italy later this month, having lost to Deepak Bhoria in the selection process, this victory will keep the fire burning in him. India is yet to win a Paris Olympics quota in the flyweight division and if Deepak fails to grab the opportunity in Italy, Panghal will be in the fray for the last Olympic qualifier in May.
Interestingly, this was Tokyo Olympian Panghal’s first big win since his 2022 Commonwealth Games gold in Birmingham, after which he lost to Deepak twice at home and missed out on the Asian Games too.
Sachin (57kg), a world youth champion, changed the colour of his medal from last edition’s bronze to gold as he out-punched Uzbekistan’s Shakhzod Muzafarov by a similar 5-0 verdict. However, two-time world champion Zareen (50kg) and Arundhati Choudhary (66kg) settled for silver medals after going down in their respective bouts.
Read more: Strandja Memorial Boxing Tournament 2023: India to send a second-string women’s squad
The tournament is the start of Nikhat’s preparations for the Paris Olympics and she would be looking to take the positives from the defeat.
Arundhati Choudhary (66kg) also produced an impressive performance against China’s Asian Games gold medallist Liu Yang but fell just short of victory. Liu won the final 4-1. Arundhati’s power-packed punches rattled the Chinese in the second round but she came back and used the long range to throw some quick punches.
Besides them, Barun Singh Shagolshem (48kg) lost 0-4 to Khodzhiev Anvarzhan of Kyrgyzstan in the final. Rajat (67kg) went down to Kazakhstan’s Bekbauov Dulat 3-2 in a close fight.
Read more: Nikhat Zareeen and Arundhati Choudhary storm into semis of 75th Strandja Memorial
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