Olympics 2024: Staying out of team made Panghal stronger, says Akhil Kumar

Former Commonwealth Games champion boxer Akhil Kumar believes a battle-hardened Amit Panghal, who persevered through the setback of being dropped from the national team before roaring back to qualify for the Olympics, will be among the most mentally strong Indian athletes competing in the Paris Games.

After the first-round exit from Tokyo Olympics, Panghal lost his spot in the team on the basis of Boxing Federation of India's evaluation system, which was drafted by then High Performance Director Bernard Dunne.

"Amit is in a strong place now because he has made a comeback and seen the tough times in the past few years," Akhil told PTI on the sidelines of a panel discussion on India's Olympic prospects hosted by the Delhi Sports Journalists Association in collaboration with the Sports Authority of India.

The snubs severely dented Panghal's confidence and made him question his abilities.

However, when the opportunity came, India's lone men's world championships silver-medallist grabbe