Five Indian boxers, including the seasoned trio of Vikas Krishan (69kg), Pooja Rani (75kg) and Satish Kumar (+91kg), secured Tokyo Olympic berths on Sunday by advancing to the semi-finals of the Asian Qualifiers with mostly commanding victories.
Satish, Rani, Krishan, Lovlina Borgohain (69kg) and Ashish Kumar (75kg) became the first set of Indian boxers to qualify for quadrennial showpiece scheduled in July-August this year.
While fourth-seeded Rani notched up a facile 5-0 win over Thailand’s Pornnipa Chutee, Krishan endured a difficult one against third-seeded Japanese Sewonrets Okazawa before also prevailing in a unanimous verdict against the Asian silver-medallist. In the evening session, two-time world bronze-winner and second seed Borgohain eased past Uzbekistan’s Maftunakhon Melieva to enter the semifinals.
Also through to the last-four stage was Asian silver-medallist Ashish with a 5-0 win over Indonesia’s Maikhel Roberrd Muskita, the bout being more intense than what the final scoreline might suggest.
Commonwealth Games silver-medallist and fourth seed Satish Kumar (+91kg) then put it past Mongolia’s Daivii Otgonbayar 5-0 in the final Indian bout of the day to make it a highly successful outing for the country. Satish has a tough at hand in the semifinal where he will face reigning world champion and top seed Bakhodir Jalolov of Uzbekistan.
“I managed to execute whatever I had planned. I wanted to fight from a distance and counter-attack, which I could do. Just qualifying is not enough, I want to now win a gold medal,” a jubilant Borgohain, who hails from Assam, said after her bout.
However, first-timer Sachin Kumar (81kg) went down in a split decision to China’s national champion Daxaing Chen in his quarterfinal bout.
