New Delhi: Indian boxer, Amit Panghal cruised into the men’s 52kg final at the 2021 ASBC Asian Boxing Championships as he outpunched  Saken Bibossinov of Kazakhstan in the last-4 clash in Dubai on Friday.

During the solid fight between World Championships silver medallist Panghal and bronze medallist Bibossinov, the Indian pugilist made a steady start and tried to keep a distance from his competitor. Later in the second round, Panghal looked more aggressive and landed some neat punches to put Bibossinov under pressure.

Panghal carried on the momentum throughout the game and dominated the Kazakh boxer to seal a resounding 5-0 win. In a quest for his second successive gold, the Indian pugilist will be up against Rio Olympic champion Zoirov Shakhobidin of Uzbekistan in the gold medal contest on Monday.

With this, India is now assured of at least five silver medals with four women boxers already qualifying into the finals earlier on Thursday. Indian contingent also achieved their highest medal haul with the confirmation of 15 medals , surpassing the former best of 13 (2 gold, 4 silver and 7 bronze) from the 2019 edition held in Bangkok.

On Thursday Indian boxing great Mary Kom (51kg) along with three more Indian women boxers—Pooja Rani (75kg), Anupama (+81kg) and Lalbuatsahi (64kg)—advanced into the finals. The defending champion Pooja defeated Mongolia’s Munkhbat. Whereas in the other last-4 bouts contested late on Friday night, Lalbuatsaihi was named winner after her Kuwaiti opponent Noura Almutairi abandoned the fight in the second round following the Indian’s brilliant attack. Anupama (+81+kg) also notched up victory against Mokhira Abdullaeva of Uzbekistan.

Meanwhile, the 54kg bout came as a heartbreak for India as the two-time youth world champion Sakshi Chaudhary, who was initially declared as winner, lost her berth in the final and had to settle for bronze after the opponent Dina Zholaman appealed to review the last round of bout. The jury upheld the appeal and changed the result in favour of Kazakh pugilist. Simranjit Kaur (60kg), Jaismine (57kg) Monika (48kg), Lovlina Borgohain (69kg), Saweety (81kg) are the other Indian women who secured bronze medals after suffering defeats in their respective last-4 clashes.