Ankush Panghal grew up in the village of Bheria near Hisar in southwestern Haryana. With his coach, Pradeep Sawant, making him and other trainees run in the sand dunes near the village, Panghal would not utter a single word, unlike other trainees complaining about the runs. As the 21-year-old won the men’s 80kg final against South Korea’s Kim Minseong with a split 4-0 decision to become the first Indian male boxer since Amit Panghal in 2018 to win an Asian Games gold, Sawant knew his ward would have little to say.

“Whenever we used to go to train in the sand dunes near the village for running and endurance training, Ankush would never complain while other kids would complain. Sometimes we would do extra climbs, and he would follow us. While he was a very active kid and one with a sharp mind, he would rarely speak. Pata nahi dimag main kya chalta rehta hai (Don’t know what was running in his head). (Laughs). He studied his opponents very well, and that’s what he displayed there in Japan. I am sure he will not speak about this medal, but we have to get a smile from him and make him dance too when he returns back with the gold medal,” shares coach Sawant while speaking with .

Love for kabaddi and food

At the Hisar-Sadulpur Highway, Suresh Panghal, along with elder brother Ramesh Panghal, has been running the RS Dhaba. Ramesh, who was a kabaddi player in his youth, earlier used to run a grocery store before the brothers opened the dhaba in 2018. With Ankush being the youngest of the six children in the joint family, Ramesh would think of sending the then 10-year-old Ankush to train in boxing under coach Sawant in 2015. The children would be dropped at the academy by Ramesh or by his eldest daughter and shooter Neelam.

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“Shararti aur chalk toh Ankush tha shuru se (He was very mischievous and sharp-minded since childhood). I was a kabaddi player and wanted him to train in an individual sport. My eldest daughter Rashmi, along with her two sisters, and Ankush, along with the two kids of my brother, would go to different sports academies in Hisar. Sometimes I would drop them, and sometimes, Rashmi would drop them,” shares Suresh Panghal while speaking with .

Ankush would initially start in the 40kg category before making his way to the higher weight categories in subsequent years, winning medals at the state as well as national levels in the sub-junior and junior categories.

“Ankush shararti toh tha aur mujhe iski always running mind ko busy rakhna tha. (He was mischievous and I wanted to keep his busy mind running). Whatever we worked on in basics, he would pick it up fast and be it speed work or endurance work or shadow boxing and mimicking different uncles, he would be the first to complete and ask, sir ab kya Karen. (Sir, what to do next?). He was naturally very good in straight punches, and as he moved weight from 40 kg to 44 and 50 and 54, and 60, we worked on his left hook as well footwork. I would always tell him that it will be your foot movement that will save you in heavier weight and that’s what our training laid emphasis on,” shares coach Sawant.

Dominance in heavyweight

Panghal has won a silver at the World Boxing Cup in New Delhi, where he suffered a split-decision loss against Oladimeji Shittu of England in the final, a loss he avenged in the CWG final against England with a win. He had won the title at the 2026 Grand Prix Usti nad Labem in the Czech Republic.

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Panghal first scored a 5-0 win over Tajikistan’s Nekruz Salimov in the quarter-finals before scoring a split 4-1 win over reigning 75kg world champion Fazliddin Erkinboev of Uzbekistan. Indian head coach CA Kutappa had spoken about Ankush’s strengths.

“Ankush rarely speaks in training and post-training. We have to coax him to speak his mind and share the inputs of the strategy against the opponents. His upper cut and hook are the ones which we have worked upon a lot, and he also unleashes combinations with his backhand punch too. He can box with his right as well as left hook too and mix with cross punches too,” Kutappa had told this paper.

As for the Panghals, there will be celebrations at the dhaba with the title win.

“Whenever he comes to the village, Ankush sits at the dhaba too, and he also likes the jeep used to ferry the ration for the dhaba. Today there will be celebrations at the dhaba and a sweet delight for the customers too. Ankush loves the boondi ka Ladoo and Malpua, and we will get that to distribute too,” says Ramesh Panghal.