Sports Shorts: Asiad gold medallist Panghal nominated for Arjuna - SportsGuru

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Tuesday, September 11, 2018

Sports Shorts: Asiad gold medallist Panghal nominated for Arjuna


Asian Games gold medal-winning Indian boxer Amit Panghal was, on Tuesday, nominated for this year's Arjuna awards by the Boxing Federation of India.

Panghal, who won the light-flyweight (49kg) category gold after defeating reigning Olympic champion Hasanboy Dusmatov of Uzbekistan in the Asiad final, joined Sonia Lather and Gaurav Bidhuri in the list of boxing nominees for the country's second-highest sporting honour after the Khel Ratna.

"I am honoured to be nominated; I can't describe how happy I am. My medal is talking for me and that is what I have always wanted," the 22-year-old, only the eighth Indian boxer to claim an Asiad gold, said.

There were doubts on whether he would be considered given a positive dope test back in 2012, for which he served a one-year ban.

However, given the fact that he is done with the punishment for the "inadvertent" violation and that it happened when he was competing at the youth level, the BFI decided to recommend his name to the Ministry.

"It happened when I was just a kid who knew nothing. I was a teenager and had come to my village after being diagnosed with chicken pox; there was probably something in the medicine that the doctor gave me," Panghal said.

That apart, the youngster from Haryana's Rohtak is enjoying a breakthrough year, starting with a bronze meal win at the Asian Championships in May 2017.

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