The National Camp for India’s top boxers began at Patiala's Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports (NIS) in August. For the past six months, the players were in self-training due to the pandemic. In a year close to the Tokyo Olympics, Amit Panghal, One of India’s best contenders for winning a medal in the boxing ring in the Tokyo Olympics 2022 managed to utilize the time by fine-tuning his technique. “This year after sealing qualification, I got the opportunity to work on my shortcomings as a boxer. In my weight class, I usually have to face off against taller boxers. So I have been working on negating the opponent’s reach during boxing bouts”, said Panghal.
He explained his strategies as “The easiest way to negate taller boxers is to get as close to them as possible. That way you can free your arms and throw punches, but their arms get cramped,” he said. He added the best boxers in his weight class are from Uzbekistan or Cuba. In answering a question about how a boxer works on reaching tall boxers, Panghal said “You can do that by training with boxers who compete in one weight class higher than yours. That’s how you get used to taking their punches and fighting more powerful boxers. But since the lockdown, I’ve trained a lot against punching bags”.
He said during his stay at home he focused on his fitness. “During the lockdown, from very early on, I focused on maintaining my fitness. I used my morning sessions only on fitness drills. I didn’t do any boxing in the mornings. And then evenings were reserved for boxing sessions”. The boxing federation and the coaches were planning to send Tokyo Olympic qualified boxers abroad for month training.
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