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World championship medalists Amit Panghal and Shiva Thapa made a cut in the Indian boxing team for the upcoming Commonwealth Games after emerging victorious in the trials held at the Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports on Thursday. While Panghal secured a place in the 51 kg division, Shiva Thapa will represent India in the 63.5 kg category.
The other six boxers who made their way into the Indian team include 2018 bronze medalist Mohammad Hussamuddin (57kg), Rohit Tokas (67kg), reigning national champion Sumit (75kg), Ashish Kumar (80kg), Sanjeet (92kg) and Sagar (92kg+).
To secure a place in the 51 kg division, Panghal defeated fellow services boxer Deepak 4-1 via a split decision. The 2019 World Champion silver medalist will be aiming to improve his performance from the last edition of Gold Coast where Amit won the silver medal in the Light Flyweight category.
On the other hand, the 2015 world championship bronze medalist Thapa, who was last week elected as a member of the IBA Athletes Committee, out-punched 2018 CWG silver medalist Manish Kaushik 5-0 to seal his spot at the quadrennial event.
In the 57 kg category, Hussamuddin emerged victorious against the 2019 Asian Championship silver medalist Kavinder Singh Bisht 4-1. Meanwhile, Railways' Rohit clinched a thrilling 3-2 win over Aditya Pratap Yadav of UP in the welterweight division. Sumit, Ashish, Sanjeet, and Sagar all dominated their bouts as they won by an identical 5-0 margin.
India had finished second in the 2018 edition of the Games, returning with a haul of nine medals, including three gold and as many silver and bronze. The women's trials for the Games will be held next week. Notably, the CWG is set to be held in Birmingham from July 28 to August 8.
Men's boxing team for CWG 2022: Amit Panghal (51kg), Mohammad Hussamuddin (57kg), Shiva Thapa (63.5kg) Rohit Tokas (67kg), reigning national champion Sumit (75kg), Ashish Kumar (80kg), Sanjeet (92kg) and Sagar (92kg+).