India’s Amit Panghal, Ananta Chopde, and Sumit made their way into the finals of their respective weight categories while three women boxers signed off with bronze medals at the 2022 Thailand Open International Boxing Tournament in Phuket on Friday.
Manisha (57kg), Pooja (69kg), and Bhagyabati Kachari (75kg) are the three women pugilists who signed off with defeats in their respective semifinal bouts.
The 2018 Asian Games champion Panghal started the day’s proceedings aggressively when he outclassed Vietnam’s Tran van Thao in a one-sided semifinal in the 52kg weight category.
Panghal came up with a brilliant display of counter-attack and swift movement to register a commanding win by unanimous decision, the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) informed in a release on Friday.
Chopde came up with a strong show against another boxer from Vietnam, Bui Trong Thai, and notched up an easy 5-0 win in the 54kg category.
In the 75kg semifinals, Sumit faced a tough challenge from Kazakhstan’s Ayatullah Takizhanov and managed to secure a thrilling 4-1 victory.
Later in the day, Pooja and Manisha fought hard but suffered losses by similar margins — 1-4 against Thailand’s Baison Manikon and the 2020 Olympic bronze medallist Italy’s Irma Testa, respectively while Kachari lost to Hergie Bacyadan of the Philippines by 0-5 margin.
With Ashish Kumar (81kg), Monika (48kg), Govind Sahani (48kg), and Varinder Singh (60kg) already entering the finals on Wednesday, seven Indians will now fight for gold medals on Saturday to improve upon their performance in the last edition when they won one gold medal.
