Paris Olympics 2024: Staying out of the national team has made Amit Panghal stronger, feels boxer Akhil Kumar
The Hindu
Akhil Kumar praises Amit Panghal's resilience and mental strength ahead of the Paris Olympics, expecting medals from Indian boxers.
Former Commonwealth Games champion boxer Akhil Kumar believes a battle-hardened Amit Panghal, who persevered through the setback of being dropped from the national team before roaring back to qualify for the Olympics, will be among the most mentally strong Indian athletes competing in the Paris Games.
After the first-round exit from Tokyo Olympics, Panghal lost his spot in the team on the basis of Boxing Federation of India's evaluation system, which was drafted by then High Performance Director Bernard Dunne.
"Amit is in a strong place now because he has made a comeback and seen the tough times in the past few years," Akhil told PTI on the sidelines of a panel discussion on India's Olympic prospects hosted by the Delhi Sports Journalists Association in collaboration with the Sports Authority of India.
The snubs severely dented Panghal's confidence and made him question his abilities.
However, when the opportunity came, India's lone men's world championships silver-medallist grabbed it with both hands to secure an Olympic quota in the 51kg category. The Games begin on July 26.
"When he was not in the team he must have had sleepless nights, he trained hard. He must have felt things that he cannot put into words. He has walked out of all that stronger and should take it as a motivation," Akhil added.
A former world number one, Panghal has medals in the all big-ticket events barring the Olympics He once stood at the pinnacle of his sport with gold medals at the Asian Games and Asian Championships and a historic silver at the World Championships.