After gold, Amit Panghal goes hunting for gulab jamun

The boxer, who has stayed off sweets after going up from the 49-kg to the 52-kg category, spends night looking for Indian restaurants in Bangkok

Moments after bagging gold at the Asian Boxing Championships in Bangkok yesterday, India's star boxer Amit Panghal was hunting down restaurants in the Thai capital to satiate his sweet cravings.

"I've had a tough time, having to step up from the 49kg to 52kg category [since the latter is an Olympic category]. I had to undergo a lot of training and dietary restrictions to build more muscle for the heavier category. I love sweets but it was a strict no-no."

Also Read: Asian Boxing Championships: Shiva, Sarita and Nikhat storm into semis

"Now, we have a mini break, so I'm desperate to dig in to anything sweet," said Panghal, 23, who dominated Korea's Kim Inkyu to win the gold medal bout by a hefty 5-0 margin yesterday.

Hours after winning the gold medal at the Asian Championships in Bangkok

Panghal's favourite Indian sweet dish is rasmalai and at home, the Haryanvi lad gorges on his mother's kheer-churma. "Lekin ab yahan rasmalai kahaan milegi [but now where will I get rasmalai here]," said Panghal as the members of the Indian boxing contingent stepped out for a celebratory dinner.

Also Read: Asian Boxing Championships: Indian boxers eye domination in semis

India's Deepak Singh (49kg) and Kavinder Singh Bisht (56kg) settled for silver yesterday while Shiva Thapa (60kg), Ashish (69kg) and Satish Kumar (+91kg) clinched bronze.

India boxer Amit Panghal after winning the 52kg final in Bangkok yesterday

Having followed up on his last year's Asian Games gold with another gold at the Strandja Memorial Tournament this February in Bulgaria (both in 49kg), Panghal admitted being a bit nervous stepping into a new category at the Asian Championships. "The punches are bigger and boxers, tougher. But I decided to give it my all.

Failure was not an option because with the 49kg category scrapped from the Olympics, this is the only category in which I can fight at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Now, having beaten an Olympic champion [Hasanboy Dusmatov] in the earlier rounds and a World Championship medallist in the final, I have proved that I belong to this 52kg category," said Panghal, who is eyeing glory at the World Championships (September 7-21) in Russia. "That's an Olympic qualifier event so I have to do well there and bag that quota spot for my country," vowed Panghal.

Also Read: Asian Boxing Championships: Panghal leads six boxers into finals

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