National team snub has made Panghal stronger: Akhil Kumar

Amit Panghal and Akhil Kumar

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. 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 told PTI on the sidelines of a panel discussion on India's Olympic prospects hosted by the Delhi Sports Journalists Association.

A former World No. 1, 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.

Akhil believes Panghal's experience of beating some of the best in the world makes him a force to reckon with at the Paris Games. "Amit has a medal in every tournament apart from Olympics and I hope he gets that [missing medal]. He has defeated so many talented boxers overs the years so hopes and expectations from him increase," he said.

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