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The Times of India
The Times of India
Sport
Hindol Basu | TNN

CWG 2022: Nikhat Zareen, Amit Panghal shed cloaks of the past

Both power into respective gold medal rounds with consummate ease

BIRMINGHAM: Nikhat Zareen's demeanour bears quite the change after her world championships gold a few months back.

Now as she enters the boxing hall, she literally bounces into the ring. The confidence is there for everyone to see. Once inside the ropes, there is conviction in whatever she does, whether dodging, weaving, landing jabs or crosses on her opponents, she appears in complete control of herself and the situation.

It wouldn't be a misplaced thought if one considers her to be India's best boxer at present, men included.

There has been a world of change to the Nikhat embroiled in a battle, within the ring and outside, with Mary Kom in the winter of 2019 and the one that enters the ring now.

So far, in every round, Nikhat has owned the ring at these Games. Saturday's 48kg women's light flyweight semifinal result against England's Savanna Alfia Stubley seemed to be a foregone conclusion, the interesting part was how dominating Nikhat could be.

The Indian was at her attacking best throughout, across the three rounds, and the verdict was a unanimous 5-0 by the five judges. She will now face Northern Ireland's Carly McNaul, a 2018 Commonwealth Games silver-medallist, in the final.

"She (McNaul) is one of the boxers I had prepared for before coming to Birmingham. She will prove to be a good challenge," Nikhat said afterwards.

Amit makes final

"In Tokyo, the looming threat of Covid was quite disturbing." Amit Panghal finally laid bare the demons that shackled him at the Olympics a year ago. "Mentally, I am in a happy space here," said the boxer on Saturday.

It showed. After winning a closely-fought semifinal against fellow Tokyo Olympian, Patrick Chinyemba of Zambia on Saturday, Panghal is now looking to change the colour of the medal he won at Gold Coast 2018. Back then, he had lost the summit clash to Galal Yafai of England.

In Birmingham, there will be another Englishman standing in his path on the way to gold. Amit knows Kiaran MacDonald will have immense crowd support at the National Exhibition Centre's Hall 4 during the final, but that's a challenge he wants to overcome after the Tokyo failure where he lost in the round of 16.

"I am happy to have ensured a silver, but the gold will help me a lot after what had happened in Tokyo," Panghal said.

The semifinal wasn't easy either. Panghal was defensive to start with, circling the ring and inviting Chinyemba to attack. Like in the earlier rounds, the Indian started with an open guard. The round was mostly about dodging and weaving from both boxers, but the Zambian managed to land a couple of left jabs.

Those fine margins gave Chinyemba the bragging rights for the round and it was a 3-2 split decision in his favour.

However, Panghal came out aggressive in the second round and tried to gain the upper hand with some counter punches. The accuracy with the punches helped the Indian and the five judges ruled in his favour.

In the third round, Panghal was dominant from the word go and showed nerves of steel under pressure. He was agile enough to keep the Zambian at bay and soon the scoreline flashed 5-0 across the board.

Jaismine settles for bronze

In the women's lightweight (60kg) category, Jaismine Lamboria lost to England's Gemma Paige Richardson by a 3-2 split verdict. Despite a valiant effort, Jaismine trailed throughout the contest with two judges giving her full 10 points in the first and third rounds. In the second round, all five judges favoured the English boxer.

The Englishwoman was more attacking and landed cleaner punches, while Jaismine was somewhat guilty of being a bit passive. Nonetheless, having secured a semifinal spot, Jaismine will go back with a bronze medal from Birmingham.

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