Amit Panghal Lone Indian Boxer at Asiad, Enters Gold Medal Match

Amit will face Uzbekistan’s Hasanboy Dusmatov in the final on Saturday. Dusmatov won gold at the Rio Olympics.

India’s Amit Panghal (in blue) in action against Philippines’ Carlo Paalam.

(Photo: AP)

• India’s boxer Amit Phangal enters the final of boxing 49kg category at 18th Asian Games.
  
• Amit defeated Philippines boxer Carlo Paalam 3-2.
  
• Amit is the only Indian boxer left in Asian Games after Vikas Krishan had to pull out from his semi-final.
  

Debutant boxer Amit Panghal (49kg) continued his sensational run to make the final at the 18th Asian Games on Friday with a hard-fought win.

Amit was the lone Indian boxer to make the final in the ongoing edition, beating Philippines' Carlo Paalam in a 3-2 verdict.

Amit will be the only Indian who will feature in a boxing final at the Asaid since Vikas Krishan had to pull out from his semi-final bout, earlier in the day, due to an eye injury.

(For more news and updates from the Asian Games, click here.)

In a see-saw battle which swung decisively in his favour in the final three minutes, Amit recovered from a shaky opening round to assure himself of at least a silver on debut at the Games. The Filipino was aggressive but Amit too managed to connect just enough right straights to fetch a split verdict in his favour.

It wasn’t the best of starts by Amit, he took time to settle down, did well in the second round but the Filipino came back strongly in the third. Amit managed to get some clean ones to clinch it. It was very tense.

Santiago Nieva, Indian boxing’s High Performance Director

Next up is Uzbekistan’s Hasanboy Dusmatov to whom Amit had lost a close quarter-final contest in the Hamburg world championships last year. Dusmatov is also a gold medal winner from Rio 2016.

It’s time to beat Dusmatov. Amit was not as strong as he is right now at the world championships, the strength difference was evident then but now, Amit is a lot more stronger. I think Dusmatov will be under pressure tomorrow (Saturday).

Santiago Nieva, Indian boxing’s High Performance Director

Amit beat Philippines’ Carlo Paalam in a 3-2 verdict.(Photo: PTI)

The Armyman, who hails from Haryana, won a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games earlier this year.

He also won gold at the prestigious Strandja Memorial Tournament in Bulgaria earlier this year and has been enjoying a breakthrough season. He is also an Asian championships bronze-medallist.

(With inputs from PTI)