BFI nominates Amit Panghal and Vikas Krishan for Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award

01 June 2020

The Boxing Federation of India (BFI) has nominated Olympic bound stars Amit Panghal and Vikas Krishan for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award.

The announcement was made last day and the federation has also nominated Lovlina Borgohain (69kg) and Simranjit Kaur (64kg) and Manish Kaushik (63kg) for the Arjuna awards.

Interestingly, all the boxers nominated for the awards have qualified for the Olympics meaning that the nomination would serve as extra motivation for them.

National women’s coach Mohammed Ali Qamar and assistant coach Chhote Lal Yadav were nominated for the Dronacharya awards as well while Asian Boxing gold medallist and two-time World Championships silver medallist Usha Nagisetty was nominated for the Dhyan Chand Award.

Amit Panghal is yet to win a national award despite strong showings both domestically and internationally. He was turned down by the selection committee for the past three years because of the 2012 “inadvertent” dope offence. He had recently raised his concerns regarding this process as well in a letter that he sent out to Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju.

As for Vikas Krishan, he had won the Arjuna Award back in 2012. He went through a brief run in the professional boxing scene afterwards and has now returned to the amateur circuit with a hope of winning the Olympic Medal.

Also Read: Indian Boxing News: Olympic Dream keeps Sonia Lather motivated during lockdown