Kavinder Singh Bisht's win over world champ Kairat Yeraliyev and Amit Panghal's win against Olympic champ Hasanboy Dusmatov are a result of thorough planning, says chief coach Kuttappa
India's Amit Panghal (in blue) goes on the offensive against Hasanboy Dusmatov of Uzbekistan in the 42kg category quarter-final at the Asian Championships in Bangkok yesterday
The Indian boxing contingent threw up two significant results at the ongoing Asian Championships (April 19-28) in Bangkok yesterday. First, Kavinder Singh Bisht (56 kg) stunned reigning World Champion Kairat Yeraliyev. Then, Amit Panghal (52 kg) shocked Olympic champion Hasanboy Dusmatov. Both Indian boxers stormed into the semi-finals, assuring themselves of medals.
Indian boxing chief coach CA Kuttappa however, refused to term both results surprising. "A lot of planning has gone into these two fights. Both Kavinder and Amit have worked hard on studying both opponents. They have spent a lot of time watching videos to understand every move and countermove of Yeraliev and Dusmatov. I was confident that they would win, so the results are not surprising at least for me," Dronacharya awardee CA Kuttappa told mid-day from Bangkok yesterday.
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Kavinder Singh Bisht (in red) takes on Kairat Yeraliyey of Kazakhstan in the 52kg quarters
Cautious aggression
Speaking about the Indian boxers' approach, Kuttappa explained that both were cautiously aggressive: "If you look at both the bouts, both Kavinder and Amit began a little cautiously, but as the bouts progressed, they grew in confidence and their punching fluency got better."
Panghal had lost to Dusmatov at the 2017 World Championships after which the Indian got the better of the Uzbek at the Asian Games gold medal bout in Jakarta last year. Both bouts though were in the 49kg category and with this category dropped from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Panghal was forced to move to the 52kg division.
CA Kuttappa
"It's not easy to change divisions. Amit had to put on more weight and with more weight, even the punches thrown at you are harder. So, we got Amit to spar with bantamweight [56kg] boxers in training and he adapted quickly. In fact, he had Dusmatov on the canvas with a big left hook in the second round, which means he was dominant this time unlike his narrow win at the Jakarta Asian Games," explained Kuttappa.
Going for gold
The semi-finals are on Thursday and with these two big wins in the bag, coach Kuttappa is confident that his boxers will settle for nothing less than gold. "I'm banking on both Kavinder and Amit to win gold medals but before that, we have to draw up fresh plans against the opposition. We have two days which is good enough to work up new strategies," he signed off.
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