New Delhi: Union Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju felicitated Indian boxers Amit Panghal and Manish Kaushik who returned home winning a medal each at the Men's World Boxing Championships from Russia. The two medals won by Amit and Manish were the most by India at any single men's boxing championship.
While Amit was honoured by Kiren Rijiju with a cheque of Rs. 14 lakhs Manish was given a cheque of Rs.8 lakhs.
Amit, who was the second seed in 52 kg, created history as he became the first Indian to reach the final of the Men's World Boxing Championship and winning a silver medal. It has been a glorious past couple of years for the 24-year-old from Haryana, who in recent times has won the gold medal at the 2018 Asian Games and the 2019 Asian Championships along with winning the silver medal at the Commonwealth Games.
Speaking about the win, Amit said, "I am very happy about winning silver and I would like to send my regards to people from across the country who supported me through this journey. Of course, I would have wanted to win gold, and I will work on my weaknesses to convert this silver into gold in my upcoming challenges."
Manish Kaushik and Amit Panghal. The 23-year-old Manish Kaushik had a glorious run in the tournament in the 63 kg event as he knocked off 4th seed and Asian Games silver medallist Baatarsukhin Chinzorig in the round of 16, before seeing his tournament end in the semi-finals to the top seed Andy Cruz Gomez and winning a bronze. Manish and Amit won India's 5th and 6th medals at the Men's World Championships. The previous winners were Vijender Singh (75 kg) in 2009, Vikas Krishan (69 kg) in 2011, Shiva Thapa (56 kg) in 2015 and Gaurav Bidhuri (56 kg) in 2017.
"I am very happy about winning a bronze medal in my very first World Championship and seeing my name alongside some of the finest men's boxers from India as a world medallist. I played well during this tournament and beat an Asian Games medallist along the way which is something that satisfied me," Manish said.
Kiren Rijiju, who was all praise for the Indian side, said, "I am very proud of India's best-ever performance at the Men's Boxing World Championship. I feel India has a great future in boxing. In fact, even those boxers who reached the quarter-final stage need to be congratulated for their performance. This is the Olympic year and these medals are a sign that India is indeed prepared to put up a good show at Tokyo 2020. I want to assure all athletes, across all sporting disciplines preparing for Tokyo that we will extend all support."
