Asian Games 2018: Amit outwits Olympic champ to claim India's only boxing gold at 18th Asiad

Jakarta, September 1: Amit Panghal (49kg) on Saturday (September 1) became only the eighth Indian boxer ever to claim a gold medal at the Asian Games with a stunning tactical win over reigning Olympic and Asian champion Hasanboy Dusmatov in the summit clash here.

The 22-year-old Armyman, the only Indian to make the finals, prevailed 3-2 against the more fancied Dusmatov, who had beaten him in a split verdict in last year's world championships.

GOLD NUMBER 14!

BRILLIANT boxing by #TOPSAthlete Amit Panghal to secure a GOLD in Men's 49 kg Boxing by defeating 2016 Olympic Gold medalist!

What a proud, proud moment this is for us! #KheloIndia #IndiaAtAsianGames #AsianGames2018 pic.twitter.com/PcWKWFVkH0

— Rajyavardhan Rathore (@Ra_THORe) September 1, 2018

Amit, making his debut at the Games, showed immense tactical brilliance, especially in defence to outwit the Uzbek, who has an iconic status in international boxing. Dusmatov won a silver in the world championship last year.

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But on Saturday (September 1), the Haryana-boxer extracted sweet revenge for the narrow loss in Hamburg, keeping his range and striking some clean right hooks and jabs to his shorter and slightly edgy opponent.

The Uzbek southpaw, known for his brilliant counter-attacks, seemed wary of the constantly-on-the-move Indian, who refused to fall into the trap of diving in.

The result was a frustrated Dusmatov being forced to lunge forward which worked perfectly well for the Indian in his counter-attacking game.

"I had lost to him before, so I had to take revenge. Coach Santiago (Nieva) and other coaches had prepared me well. In the semifinal, I did not play the first round well, here I did not repeat that mistake," Amit said after the bout.

"The coach asked me get him on counter-attack. The training in England and at the camp in India helped. I had sparred with southpaw boxers at both places. I knew how to take advantage of the upper cut," he added.

Nieva, the high performance director as well, said: "We knew he is an explosive boxer, so we asked Amit to stay away from him. Amit had not played a great first round in his semifinal but today he was good, so he did not have to catch up and he connected his punches.

"He (Dusmatov) got tired towards the end and his punches did not have the strength. Amit was fast today. He had the first round, we knew he had the strength to pull it off. It can't get bigger than this for him."

Saturday's win marks the highest point in Amit's meteoric rise to the top, starting with an Asian Championships bronze last year. A world quarter-finalist, Amit claimed a silver in the Commonwealth Games.

GOLD for 🇮🇳

What a match! #AmitPanghal wins the final in style. Corners Rio Olympic Champion Hasanboy Dusmatov of 🇺🇿 with absolute speed and power in a split decision in the Light Fly (49Kg)Weight. Way to go Champ. 💪👊#PunchMeinHaiDum #AsianGames2018 #BoxtoGlory pic.twitter.com/mwVxnjpv7C

— Boxing Federation (@BFI_official) September 1, 2018

Earlier this year, he also won gold medals at the inaugural India Open and the prestigious Strandja memorial in Bulgaria.

Vijender Singh and Vikas Krishan were the last set of male gold-medallists for India at the Asian Games. They had won their yellow metal at the 2010 Guangzhou edition. Vikas (75kg) settled for a bronze this time.

In the 2014 Games, M C Mary Kom was the lone gold-medallist for India.