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Published 02:56 IST, September 24th 2019

Amit Panghal: 'Landed in more clean punches; Thought I'd won the Gold'

Amit Panghal felt that he had actually won the final showdown & clinched the World Boxing Championship gold, he revealed in an exclusive chat with Republic TV

Reported by: Suman Ray
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Amit Panghal felt that he had actually won the final showdown & clinched the World Boxing Championship gold as he had "landed in more clean punches in the right areas" but chose not to cry foul when his opponent was adjudged the winner as it would go against the "spirit of the game."

Amit Panghal in an exclusive chat with Republic TV

"Yes, I had hit more clean punches. In the first round, it was seven clean hits while my opponent had five and in the second both of us had six each. So who was the winner? But anyway, its a part of life and its a part of sports. I did not lodge any protest nor my coach as we thought there might be some technical reasons that maybe we are unaware of. And it goes against the spirit of the game" Amit Panghal told Republic TV in an exclusive chat after his return from World Boxing Championship today.

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Amit said: "It is very tough to understand the scoring system. There should be some kind of clear cut transparency and objectivity. Unfortunately, it's left to the subjective interpretation of the referees who sometimes can go wrong." In fact, when Republic TV watched the final match along with Amit's family from his village 'Maina' in Rohtak, his father Vijender & brother Ajay had alleged "foul play and cheating" by referee and bias of world wrestling body against India.

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READ | Amit Panghal wins World Silver in India's best-ever campaign

"Referees might go wrong. It's part of the game": Amit Panghal

"Nothing like that. They are emotional. They love me too much. No cheating. No foul play. Referees might go wrong. It's part of the game. Now, bygones are bygones. I am not thinking about it. I have to move on. I still feel proud of winning the silver medal. It feels nice to be the first Indian ever to achieve that," Amit observed.

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Amit also promised that he will beat the same opponent when they play again in the Olympics. "Yes now, my focus is to first qualify for the Olympics and win a medal there. Not thinking of Olympic gold from now. No need to take additional pressure from now. It's better to take one step at a time," he added.

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01:58 IST, September 24th 2019