Jakarta: Debutant boxer Amit Panghal (49kg) continued his sensational run to make the finals with a hard-fought win but an injured Vikas Krishan (75kg) had to settle for bronze after being declared medically unfit for his semifinal at the 18th Asian Games here Friday.
Amit thus became the lone Indian boxer to make the summit clash round after beating Philippines’ Carlo Paalam in a 3-2 verdict. The 22-year-old Army man, who won a silver medal at the Gold Coast CWG, will be up against reigning Olympic champion and World Championship silver-medallist Hasanboy Dusmatov for the gold.
In a see-saw battle which swung decisively in his favour in the final three minutes, Amit recovered from a shaky opening round. The Filipino was aggressive but Amit too managed to connect just enough straight rights to fetch a split verdict in his favour.
“It wasn’t the best of starts by Amit, he took time to settle down. However, he did well in the second and third rounds. But it was very tense,” Indian boxing’s high performance director Santiago Nieva said.
Amit’s victory made up, to an extent, for the disappointment of Vikas being forced to withdraw from his last four bout owing to a cut on his eyelid sustained in the pre-quarters. The 26-year-old was to take on Kazakhstan’s Amankul Abilkhan Friday evening.
“There is inflammation in retina as well and it is too risky to let him fight. He will have to take a break for a few weeks,” an official of the boxing contingent said.
Vikas has, however, managed to script history by becoming the first Indian boxer to clinch three successive Asian Games medals (gold and bronze in 2010 and 2014).