Boxers Panghal, Nitu, Nikhat; para TT player Bhavina add golden hue
   Date :08-Aug-2022

Boxers Pangha 
 
 
 
BIRMINGHAM, 
INDIAN boxers Amit Panghal, Nitu Ghangas and Nikhat Zareen captured boxing golds in style for the country while para table tennis player Bhavina Patel also grabbed the yellow medal. Indian athletes added to the country’s medal count on tenth day of their campaign as Eldhose Paul won gold and Abdulla Aboobacker Narangolintevid bagged a silver making it 1-2 in final of the men’s triple jump on Sunday.
Panghal defeated England’s Kiaran Macdonald in 48-51kg flyweight final. He was extremely dominant in the match and won it unanimously 5-0.
In the first round, Panghal made a great start. Though his English opponent was always in contention, the Indian was better boxer as judges decided in favour of Panghal and he got 10 points from all of them while Macdonald got nine from all. In the second round, Panghal continued with the same momentum and kept his upper hand intact. Macdonald tried to fight back but simply could not match the Indian’s prowess and lost in the second round as well. The pattern of Panghal’s dominance continued in the final round as well as he kept scoring points effortlessly. Once again, all judges decided in his favour. This helped him seal the match and add another medal to his country’s tally. World Championship winner Nikhat outsmarted Nothern Ireland’s Carly McNaul, who had won silver in the last edition, by a unanimous 5-0 decision. Nikhat was just too good for her Irish rival wining it in all three rounds of the women’s 48-50kg gold medal match. Nikhat is taking forward Indian legend MC Mary Kom’s legacy who ruled the roost in the same weight categories for years.
Earlier in the day, Nitu Ghangas also clinched a gold medal after defeating England’s Demie-Jade Resztan in final of the women’s 48 kg category. She won on basis of points (5-0) over her English opponent. Ghangas was a notch above Resztan throughout the match. The English boxer was fighting well, but fell short in all three rounds as all five judges voted in favour of Ghangas.
The 22-year-old Nitu was one of the quickest boxers in her category. Dynamic and instrumental inside the ring, the Haryana pugilist won the gold in Golden Glove Boxing tournament held in Serbia. She also finished at the pole position in the World Youth Boxing Championship in 2017. In 2022, she won the gold medal at Strandja Memorial tournament before finishing in the quarter-finals of World Championships.
Jump To Glory: Indian athletes Eldhose Paul won gold and Abdulla Aboobacker Narangolintevid bagged a silver making it 1-2 in final of the men’s triple jump. Paul finished at the first position with the best jump of 17.03m which came in his third attempt. He performed the first 17m jump of the final. He took home the gold medal. Narangolintevid finished second with the best jump of 17.02m which came in his fifth attempt. The bronze medal went into the hands of Bermuda’s Jah-Nhai Perinchief. The athlete had the best jump of 16.92 m, which came in his first attempt. The other Indian who was also a part of this event was Praveen Chitravel, who finished at the fourth position at the event with the best jump of 16.89 m, which came in his third attempt. He fell short by a short margin otherwise India could have had taken all the medals in the final. Perinchief had lead in his first attempt. Paul was not even in contention back then as he had made a poor first attempt of 14.62m. Paul took the lead after his third attempt with monstrous 17.03m, which was never topped till the end.
Paddler Bhavina wins TT gold : India’s para table tennis player Bhavina Patel won gold medal after defeating Ifechukwude Christiana Ikpeoyi of Nigeria in the women’s singles-Classes 4-5. Bhavina dominated Ikpeoyi in straight games 3-0 (12-10, 11-2, 11-9). Bhavina did not give the Nigerian paddler any chance as she played excellently after a tight first game. Sharath-Sathiyan settle for silver: THE seasoned Indian pair of Sharath Kamal and G Sathiyan was outsmarted by familiar foes Paul Drinkhall and Liam Pitchford of England in the men’s doubles final.
The Indian duo had to settle for silver for the second successive edition after losing 11-8, 8-11, 3-11, 11-7, 4-11 to the English combine. It was a repeat of the 2018 final in Gold Coast and to the disappointment of the Indians, it was the same result.