National Boxing Championships: Amit Panghal, Shiva Thapa among stars to battle it out in Shillong

Former World Championships silver medallist Amit Panghal will make a comeback after seven years to the National Boxing Championships, starting at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) Indoor Hall in Shillong on Saturday.

Amit, whose last significant outing was at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games where he had bagged the gold medal, had competed in 49kg in the 2016 edition of the National championships in Guwahati. Keen to make amends to his disappointing performance in the Tokyo Olympics, Amit will try to assert his class in Shillong and be in contention for a spot for the Olympic qualifiers next year.

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Apart from Amit (51kg), multiple Asian champion Shiva Thapa (63.5kg), former World youth champions Sachin Siwach and Sachin Siwach (Jr) (both 57kg), ex-Asian champion Sanjeet (92kg) and Olympians Ashish Kumar (80kg) and Satish Kumar (+92kg) will be among the leading names to be seen in action.

However, World championships medallists Deepak Bhoria (51kg), Mohammad Hussamuddin (57kg) Nishant Dev (71kg) and Asian Games medallist Narender Berwal (+92kg) have been exempted from participating in the Nationals.

Hussamuddin, who had a knee surgery in June, is on the path of recovery.

High performance director Bernard Dunne and chief coach C.A. Kuttappa will keep a close eye on exceptional performers to pick boxers for the assessment process ahead of the Olympic qualifier starting from February 29.