Amit Panghal ranked No. 1 for the Olympic qualifier

Amit Panghal has been ranked world number 1 for the Olympic qualifier by the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) Boxing Task force. The move comes a month ahead of the Olympic qualifiers which are scheduled for March 2020 in Jordan. It has been over a decade that an Indian pugilist had achieved this position.

The feat had been previously been achieved by Vijender Singh in 2009 and now it is Panghal who has repeated the feat.

After the suspension of the International Boxing Association, the IOC's Boxing Task force is responsible for conducting the qualifiers and the main event in Tokyo. The list had 420 points allocated to Panghal. The 24-year-old has shown tremendous growth in his game since 2017 and has gone on to clinch the gold medal in the Common Wealth games and the Asian games of 2018. The following year, he became the first Indian boxer to bag a silver in the World Championship.

The rankings consider the last two World Championships and Continental Championships held in 2019.

Six-time World Champion MC Mary Kom has been placed fifth with 225 points in 51 kg while another contender in the same category, Nikhat Zareen has been placed 22.

But it is 22-years-old Lovlina Borgohain who is ranked the best among the women pugilist. In the 69 kg division, Borgohain the two-time World bronze medalist, holds third place.

Other Indians include Kavinder Singh Bisht who is an Asian silver medalist and ranks 7th on the list. He is followed by former World bronze winner, Gaurav Bidhuri in the 32nd position in the 57 kg division. In the 63 kg category, Manish Kaushik leads the charge with 12th rank who is followed by the four-time Asian medalist Shiva Thapa. In 69 kg division Ashish Kumar ranks 22nd and veteran Manoj Kumar is ranked 71. Sonia Chahal (57 kg) the two-time World and Asian silver winner holds 10th rank.

The continental Olympic qualifiers are in Dakar(Africa), Amman(Asia), London(Europe), Buenos Aires (Americana) and the final World qualifiers will be held in Paris. The final World qualifier will grant more points to ensure that the winners of these events are guaranteed a seeding in the Olympic games.