Paris Olympics: Amit Panghal leaves Paris in a hurry

PARIS: Amit Panghal never got to see Paris.

Touted as a medal prospect in the men's 51kg, with his late run of form in the final few qualifiers for the Olympics, it proved to be a rather brief sojourn for Panghal here at the North Paris Arena, venue for the early rounds of the competition before it moves for the main rounds to Roland Garros.

After earning a bye in the opening round, Panghal lost his Round of 16 encounter on split decision 4-1 to a familiar rival, Patrick Chinyemba. The Zambian used the Olympics stage to exact revenge for the Commonwealth Games semifinal loss at Birmingham two years ago. Panghal, the eventual champion, had won that fight 5-0.

On Tuesday, the reversal must have hurt Panghal to the extent that the 2018 Asian Games gold winner and 2019 world championship silver winner, left the playing area in a hurry, not stopping to analyse his defeat or laud his opponent.

In an intense fight here on Tuesday, the two-time African flyweight champion later said he was happy that the judges were fair. "I am very happy with the win," Chinyemba said later, "The last time we met (Birmingham 2022), I lost to him. I am happy this time that the judges were fair," he said.

With the Zambian ranked third for the Olympics, maybe, this time, it was Panghal, a former world No 1, who could be forgiven for feeling badly dealt by the judges. But it was always going to be a tough catch-up battle for the Indian after narrow 3-2 verdicts in the first two rounds.

The punches traded fiercely in the final round proved no gain for the Indian with the judges ruling an unanimous 4-0 in the African's favour.

Indian men's boxing had seemed destined for very poor representation at the Paris Games with boxers failing to qualify at the various competitions on offer.

Panghal, initially dropped from the men's elite team was belatedly reinstated as a last hope after it appeared that no male could qualify for the Olympics this time. He managed to make the grade at the Bangkok qualifiers as late as June, thereafter choosing to train on his own in Shilaroo in Himachal and not with the rest of the Olympic squad at Saarbrucken in Germany.

Jaismine outclassed
It continued to be a disappointing day for India, with Jaismine Lamboria looking totally out of depth in her loss to Nesthy Petecio of the Philippines in the women's 57 kg.

It looked like a battle of unequals at the start, with five feet-nine tall Jaismine towering over the five-two Petecio. It would prove anything but that with the Filipino boxer making light of the contrast in height and reach. "We had studied her. We found that despite her height she is a tentative puncher and it would work for us if we forced her onto the backfoot," said Don Abnel, the Philippines coach.


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