Since Tokyo, Amit Panghal has been allowed a grand total of one chance to qualify for the Paris Olympics.
That chance came when India exhausted all other options and had no choice but to bring their World Championship silver medallist boxer back from the unnecessary exile they had put him in. Deepak Bhoria, his successor after that Tokyo Olympics debacle, lost early at the Asian Games and lost early in the first Boxing World Qualifiers. Irish High Performance director Bernard Dunne resigned after every male Indian boxer not named Nishant Dev exited the first Qualifier in the first round itself. Better sense finally prevailed to allow Panghal a chance, with less than two months for the Paris Olympics to go.
On Sunday against China’s Liu Chuang, he found himself down in the scorecards from all judges bar one after the first round. For the first time in three years, here was one of the better boxers India had produced over the last decade, with his destiny finally in his own hands. Out went the rustiness that has been a hallmark of his performances at these qualifiers, and suddenly the boxer that was the No 1 seed at the previous Olympics showed up. Taking that all important second round in Bangkok must have felt therapeutic considering that’s where it all fell apart at Tokyo. A close third round followed, but Panghal was the one who managed to convince all judges that he would have to be the one to go to Paris.
The last three years have not been easy for the Rohtak boxer. Panghal may have been the reigning Asian champion as well as the World’s silver medallist going into the previous Olympics but that one loss somehow also saw faith in him diminish. India’s then high-performance director Santiago Nieva made an exit and along with it, Panghal was brushed aside.
“It was obviously tough for Amit. All of us, including him, had high expectations from Tokyo. We understood that the world’s best boxers are there in Tokyo and there will be some close fights. It was a tough loss against a world class boxer and it took some time for that loss to sink in for Amit as well as us,” Nieva told The Indian Express.
It took time for Panghal to recover. Instead of boxing, he started to go on long cycle rides at the Sports Authority of India in Rohtak, amid familiar settings. Meditation became a key source of calm for the boxer who felt uneasy stepping back into the ring. Any other sport but boxing would be his mantra.
Outside of that bubble, India chose to move on from Panghal. A new national coach, a new high-performance director and their own way, found itself as his latest opponent. Panghal returned in 2022 and went to the Commonwealth Games, won a gold medal, but was denied the chance to go to two World Championships and the Asian Games, all in this Olympic cycle. The reason given to him was a process of evaluation for boxers devised by Bernand Dunne, one that moved on from India’s trial system. One of those evaluations came to the conclusion that one of the best boxers in the world, was at best, No 2 in India.
The snub saw Panghal slowly get demotivated. At first, he would spar with Deepak Bhoria and try his best to show the coaches his worth. When that didn’t work, he had to go to court. At home though it was his brother who kept advising him to raise his game and wait for his opportunity.
“Performance bolti hai aur hum kya bole (Performance speaks and what do we need to say). If somebody does not show trust in you, then you have to make a comeback,” said elder brother Hawaldar Ajay Panghal to this daily. “I would always tell him that talent hai toh kismat bhi badal jayegi kisi din aur Olympics medal bhi ayega (if there is talent, then the luck can be turned around any time and Olympic medal too shall come).”
When Bhoria blew his chances, the coaches had no choice but to select him to go to Bangkok. And at that time, instead of joining the national team at a camp in Thailand, Panghal and his long-time basic coach Anil Dhankar went to BI Fernandes. Once upon a time India’s chief boxing coach, Fernandes was at that time situated at NBA, Rohtak. The Cuban spent a couple of weeks with Panghal, sharpening the boxer but privately admitting to Dhankar that there was something else that their boxer required – confidence.
“Fernandes ji would ask him to box 8-10 rounds against youth boxers in Rohtak. He took it upon himself to help Amit. In the end he said that while Amit was training well, he would need constant motivation from now on. In fact, Amit stayed back in India for a few extra days even though the team went to Bangkok for training. It’s clear now that it was the deciding factor,” said Dhankar.
