Assessment axe falls on Amit Panghal, Neeraj Phogat

NEW DELHI: CWG and Asian Games champion Amit Panghal and World Boxing Cup (WBC) Finals bronze medallist Neeraj Phogat have lost their places in the national camp after failing an intensive month-long evaluation at NIS Patiala ahead of the Asian Championships in Ulaanbaatar from March 28 to April 11.Following underwhelming performances in the assessment process, Panghal (men’s 55kg) and Neeraj (women’s 65kg) will have to leave the elite camp. The Boxing Federation of India (BFI) will not consider them for selection in upcoming international tournaments and multisport events, including the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games in Japan and the WBC Finals in Uzbekistan later this year.

On Saturday, the BFI named a 20-member squad for the Asian meet after ranking boxers across weight categories based on defined criteria and assessment reports submitted by head coaches Santiago Nieva (women) and CA Kuttappa (men).As per BFI policy, the top-ranked boxer in each selected weight category will represent India at the Asian Championships, with the second-ranked pugilist named reserve.Several prominent names also missed selection, including men’s boxers Pawan Barthwal (55kg), Nikhil (55kg), Md Hussamuddin (60kg), Sumeet Kundu (70kg) and Hitesh Gulia (70kg), and women’s boxers Nitu Ghanghas (51kg), Sakshi Chaudhary (54kg) and Parveen Hooda (60kg).Olympic medallist Lovlina Borgohain and two-time world champion Nikhat Zareen will spearhead India’s campaign after topping the rankings.