Amit Panghal to enter Tokyo Olympics as world’s leading boxer

International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Boxing Task Force (BTF) ranked India’s Amit Panghal as the World number one boxer in his men’s flyweight (52kg). He is the only Indian boxer from the nine Tokyo-bound man and women pugilists to have received the top billing by the BTF. He is an Asian Champion and world Championships silver-medalist. His nearest rival, Uzbekistan, Shakhobidin Zoirov has been ranked fifth in the world.

France’s Billal Bennama is the world’s number two boxer, Algerian Mohammad Flissi is the world’s number three boxer and China’s Hu Jianguan holds the fourth spot. The number one ranking will help Panghal in securing a favourable draw at the Olympics, where he’s unlikely to face any strong challenger before the quarter-final bout. In the round of 64, Amit can get a bye based on his top billing.

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This is the second time Panghal has been ranked number one in less than fifteen months. He also becomes only the second Indian boxer to reach the top since Vijender Singh was ranked number one in the middleweight category in 2009 after securing the World Championship bronze. The IOC’s BTF has the mandate to organise and deliver the qualification events for boxing and the Olympic boxing competitions in Tokyo after AIBA’s suspension due to concerns over finance, governance, ethics, referring and judging.