Amit punches into the final

● Debutant Amit Panghal was the lone Indian boxer to make the final, in the 49kg category. ●

Jakarta, Aug. 31: Debutant boxer Amit Panghal ( 49kg) continued his sensational run to make the final 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 Asian Games here on Friday.

Amit was the lone Indian boxer to make the final in the ongoing edition, beating Philippines’ Carlo Paalam in a 3- 2 verdict.

The 22- year- old Armyman, who won a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games earlier this year, will be up against reigning Olympic champion and world championships silvermedallist Hasanboy Dusmatov of Uzbekistan in the summit clash on Saturday.

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 right straights to fetch a split verdict in his favour.

“It wasn’t the best of starts by Amit, he took time to settle down, did well in the second round but the Filipino came back strongly in the third. Amit managed to get some clean ones to clinch it. It was very tense,” Indian boxing’s High

In the 75kg section, Vikas Krishan settled for a bronze after he was declared medically unfit to fight his semifinal bout due to a cut on his left eyelid, sustained earlier in the competition.

Performance Director Santiago Nieva said.

Next up is Dusmatov to whom Amit had lost a close quarterfinal contest in the Hamburg world championships last year.

“It’s time to beat Dusmatov. Amit was not as strong as he is right now at the world championships, the strength difference was evident then but now, Amit is a lot more stronger. I think Dusmatov will be under pressure tomorrow,” said Nieva.

Amit’s draining victory made up, to an extent, for the disappointment of Vikas being forced to withdraw from his lastfour 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 on Friday evening. — PTI