Amit Panghal wins silver in World Boxing Championship

Indian boxerAmit Panghal's phenomenal campaign in the men's world championships ended witha silver medal after he went down to Olympic champion Shakhobidin Zoirov ofUzbekistan in an intense 52kg category final in Ekaterinburg on Saturday.

Panghal lost 0-5but the scoreline was hardly a reflection of the fight he put on against themore fancied Zoirov.

The second-seeded Panghal became the first Indian male boxer to finish second in the world event and the country achieved its best-ever medal haul of two. Manish Kaushik (63kg) had signed off with a bronze earlier, after losing in the semifinals.

Once again upagainst a taller and more muscular opponent, Panghal gave it his all but fellshort when it came to connecting accurately. The Asian Games and AsianChampionships gold-medallist nonetheless achieved a historic feat.

The silvermarks a new high for the boxer from Rohtak, who has been simply unstoppablesince breaking into the national scene with a bronze in the 2017 AsianChampionships.

Zoirov, despitebeing unseeded here, was always going to be a tough challenge as he also has tohis credit silver medals in the Asian Games and the Asian Championships.

Before thisyear, India had never won more than one bronze medal at a single edition of theworld championship.

The pastmedal-winners at the big event are Vijender Singh (2009), Vikas Krishan (2011),Shiva Thapa (2015) and Gaurav Bidhuri (2017).

This time,India was among nine countries, out of a total of 78, which had their boxers inthe finals. Uzbekistan topped the finalists count with four boxers.