Boxing icon M.C. Mary Kom and World Championship silver medallist Amit Panghal booked their tickets to the Tokyo Olympics 2020, after posting wins in the Asia/Oceania Olympic qualifiers in Amman, Jordan on Monday.
Later in the night, Simranjit Kaur (60kg) defeated Namuun Monkhor of Mongolia 5-0 to book her Tokyo Olympic spot.
On Sunday, five Indian boxers secured their berths at the Olympics—Vikas Krishan (69kg), Lovlina Borgohain (69kg), Pooja Rani (75kg), Ashish Kumar (75kg) and Satish Kumar (+91kg).
India now has eight pugilists who will be competing in the Olympics. Indian pugilists have now equalled their best-ever qualification tally for the Olympics. In London 2012, too, India had eight boxers competing at the Olympics. In 2016, only three qualified.
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Sachin Kumar (81kg) and Manish Kaushik (63kg) can still earn quota places as they will play box-off bouts over the next two days.
London Olympic bronze medallist Mary Kom, competing in a weight category above her usual 48kg, secured a flawless 5-0 win over Irish Magno of Philippines in the 51kg category of the quarterfinals of the Olympic qualifiers. This will be her second appearance at the Olympics—her first being in 2012 where she won a bronze medal.
The six-time world champion will now take on reigning Asian Games gold medallist Yuan Chang of China in her quest for a spot in the final of the event.
Earlier in the day, Amit Panghal (52kg) defeated Carlo Paalam of Philippines 4-1 to secure the sixth quota for India at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics by entering the semifinals. “I had played my opponent twice and had beaten him. I came with a lot of confidence to get the win this time too. I executed whatever strategy my coaches had chalked out. I am glad that gave me the win as well as the Olympic quota. In the next round, I play a Chinese boxer whom I have beaten before at the Asian Championships. The aim is to repeat it and move into the final,” said the Asian Games champion.
Panghal will next take on China’s Hu Jianguan, a bronze medallist at the Rio Olympics as well as the 2019 Asian Championships.
Meanwhile, it was heartbreak for World Championships bronze medallist Manish Kaushik (63kg) who went down 2-3 to third seed and Asian Games silver medallist Chinzorig Baatarsukh of Mongolia in a hard-fought quarterfinal.
However, Kaushik's Olympic dream is not over yet, since the top six boxers qualifying from 63kg will get Tokyo tickets. Kaushik will get another chance with a box-off against another losing quarterfinalist. He will face Harrison Garside of Australia in the box-off bout on March 11 and a win there will secure his Olympic quota.
It was, however, the end of the road in the Asian Qualifiers for former world youth champion Sakshi Chaudhary (57kg), who was blanked 0-5 by Korea's Im Aeji in the quarterfinals.