Ekaterinburg: Amit Panghal scripted history on Friday as he became the first Indian male boxer to reach the gold medal match at World Championships. Manish Kaushik, on the other hand, settled for bronze.

Panghal defeated Kazakhstan's Saken Bibissonov 3-2 in a split decision verdict to reach the final in 52kg category. In the final on Saturday, Panghal will be up against Rio Olympic champion Shakhobidin Zoirov.

Kaushik lost his 63kg category semi-final 0-5 to reigning world champion Andy Cruz Gomez of Cuba.

Panghal and Kaushik had already entered the unchartered territory for India when both of them advanced to the semi-finals on Thursday and assured two medals from the Championships. Never before had India had two semifinalists at the marquee event for amateur boxers.

Kaushik joined the likes of Vijender Singh (2009), Vikas Krishan (2011), Shiva Thapa (2015) and Gaurav Bidhuri (2017), all of whom had won World Championships bronze for India before.

Panghal's rise has been nothing short of spectacular in Indian boxing ever since he claimed a 49kg category bronze in the 2017 Asian Championships.

He was a quarter-finalist at the world championship on debut in the same year, went on to win consecutive gold medals at the prestigious Strandja Memorial in Bulgaria, before becoming the Asian Games champion in 2018.

This year, he already has the Asian Championships gold to his credit after moving to the 52kg category following the dropping of 49kg from the Olympic roster to accommodate more women's divisions in the 2020 Tokyo Games.

(With PTI Inputs)