Indian Boxer Amit Panghal To Enter Tokyo Olympics As World No. 1

In a big morale boost before Tokyo Olympics, Indian Boxer Amit Panghal ranked as World No. 1 boxer in the men’s flyweight (52kg) category by the IOC Boxing Task Force. 

In a big morale boost before Tokyo Olympics, Indian Boxer Amit Panghal ranked as World No. 1 boxer in the men’s flyweight (52kg) category by the IOC Boxing Task Force.

The World Championships silver medalist and reigning Asian Games champion is the only Indian from the nine Tokyo-bound men and women boxer to have received the top position. This will certainly help Panghal to Olympic glory as this ranking has come only 27 days before the start of the boxing competitions in the Tokyo games. which is set to start from July 24-August 8.

The 25-year-old Rohtak boy’s nearest rival and his nemesis of late, Uzbekistan’s Shakhobidin Zoirov, has been ranked fifth in the world. The other three boxers in the top-five of the 52kg category include France’s Billal Bennama (World No. 2), Algeria’s Mohamed Flissi (No. 3), and China’s Hu Jianguan (No. 4). Among them, Panghal has defeated Bennama and Jianguan once each, while he has lost to Zoirov in all his three meetings so far, with the latest being the controversial 2-3 defeat in the final of the Asian boxing championships in Dubai. Against Flissi, Panghal has never competed before.

The No. 1 ranking will help Rohtak boy’s in assuring a favorable draw at the Olympics, where he’s unlikely to face any strong challenge before the quarterfinal round. The top-eight seeds in Tokyo wouldn’t meet before the quarters, leaving Panghal to concentrate on his two matches in the Round of 32 and 16. In the Round of 64, he’s likely to be accorded a bye based on his top billing.

The number one ranking is also a validation of Panghal’s match consistency, as this is the second time that he’s been ranked No. 1 in less than 15 months.

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