Tokyo Olympics 2020, Asia-Oceania Boxing Qualifiers: Vikas Krishan and Simranjit Kaur make it through to the finals

What's the story?

Vikas Krishan and Simranjit Kaur won their semi-final encounters at the Asia-Oceania zone Olympic Boxing Qualifiers to make it through to the finals but Lovlina Borgohain, Amit Panghal, Mary Kom, Pooja Rani, Ashish Kumar and Satish Kumar went down fighting in their semi-final encounters. Sachin Kumar prevailed in his first box-off encounter to be one win away from becoming the 9th Indian boxer to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics 2020.

In case you didn't know...

The Asia-Oceania Olympic Qualification Tournament for Boxing is being held at the Prince Hamzah Hall in Amman, Jordan from 3rd to 11th March. The Indian boxers competed in all the 13 weight categories (8 for men and 5 for women) at the qualifiers.

A total of 8 Indian pugilists (4 in the men's category and 4 in the women's category) had already qualified for the Tokyo Olympics by virtue of reaching the semi-finals at these qualifiers.

All these 8 boxers took part in the semi-final encounters on Tuesday with the hope of making it through to the finals and with it garnering ranking points for a favourable seeding at the Olympics.

Sachin Kumar, who had lost his quarter-final bout on Sunday, was required to get through two box-off encounters to make it through to the Olympics. The first of these encounters was scheduled for Tuesday.

The heart of the matter

It was a somewhat disappointing day for India at the Asia-Oceania zone Olympic Boxing Qualification tournament, with Vikas Krishan and Simranjit Kaur the only boxers to win their semi-final bouts to make it through to the finals.

The other 6 Indian boxers - Lovlina Borgohain, Amit Panghal, Mary Kom, Pooja Rani, Ashish Kumar and Satish Kumar lost their respective semi-final encounters to settle for a bronze medal, although they had already achieved the main objective of qualifying for the Olympics by virtue of reaching the semi-finals at these qualifiers.

Also Checkout: Tokyo Olympics 2020 Schedule

Sachin Kumar provided the other positive result for India on the day by winning his first box-off encounter. He needs to win his final box-off encounter on Wednesday to become the 9th Indian boxer to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics 2020.

Vikas defeated the second-seeded Ablaikhan Zhussupov of Kazakhstan to qualify for the finals of the men's 69 kg weight category with a split 3-2 verdict in his favour.

Vikas made the stronger start in a battle of southpaws with his right jabs proving to be very effective. This helped him get a split 4-1 verdict in his favour in the 1st round with 4 judges scoring the round 10-9 for the Indian and the remaining judge scoring it 10-9 for the Kazakh.

Vikas again started the 2nd round brightly but got an accidental cut near his eyebrow by an accidental bumping of heads. This seemed to have affected him to a certain extent although he still managed to win the 2nd round with a split 3-2 verdict in his favour, 3 judges scoring the round 10-9 for the Indian and the other 2 judges scoring it 10-9 for the Kazakh.

The final round was again tightly contested but Vikas managed to keep his opponent at bay for a majority of the round to come away a victor with a split 3-2 verdict, the final judges' scorecards reading 29-28, 29-28, 29-28, 28-29, 28-29 in Vikas' favour.

Simranjit defeated the third-seeded Shih-Yi Wu of Chinese Taipei to qualify for the finals of the women's 60 kg weight category with a split 4-1 verdict in her favour.

Simranjit was the more dominant boxer throughout the bout as she unsettled her Chinese Taipei opponent with a combination of left hooks and right crosses. She got a split 4-1 verdict from the judges in the 1st round with 4 judges scoring the round 10-9 for the Indian and the remaining judge scoring it 10-9 for her opponent.

The 2nd round was much closer and Simranjit just managed to sneak it with a split 3-2 verdict in her favour, 3 judges scoring the round 10-9 for the Indian and the other 2 judges scoring it 10-9 for Wu.

Simranjit again went on the offensive in the final round and did not allow her opponent to stage a comeback. She finished with a convincing 4-1 verdict in her favour with the final judges' scorecards reading 29-28, 29-28, 29-28, 29-28, 27-30 for the Indian.

Lovlina was defeated by the third seed Gu Hong of China in the women's 69 kg weight category with a unanimous 5-0 verdict going against her.

It was a competitive 1st round but the judges gave a 4-1 verdict in favour of Gu with 4 judges scoring the round 10-9 for the Chinese and the remaining judge scoring it 10-9 for the Indian. Gu was totally dominant in the 2nd round and got a unanimous 5-0 verdict in her favour, all the 5 judges scoring the round 10-9 for the Chinese. The final round also followed a similar script with Gu emerging a unanimous 5-0 victor, the final judges' scorecards reading 30-27, 30-27, 30-27, 29-28, 29-28 for the Chinese.

Amit was defeated by Hu Jianguan of China in the men's 52 kg weight category with a split 3-2 verdict going against him.

It was an extremely close bout with the Chinese edging the first 2 rounds with a split 3-2 verdict, 3 judges scoring both the rounds 10-9 for Hu and the other 2 judges scoring them 10-9 for Amit. The Chinese was slightly more dominant in the final round and that enabled him to clinch a split 3-2 verdict in his favour, the final judges' scorecards reading 30-27, 29-28, 29-28, 27-30, 27-30 for the Chinese.

Mary Kom was defeated by Chang Yuan of China in the women's 51 kg weight category with a split 3-2 verdict going against her.

In a battle of southpaws, Chang started on a stronger note and managed to get a split 4-1 verdict in the first 2 rounds with 4 judges scoring both the rounds 10-9 for her and the remaining judge scoring them 10-9 for Mary. Although Mary tried to stage a comeback in the final round, it was not enough to alter the course of the bout with her Chinese opponent emerging the victor with a split 3-2 verdict. The final judges' scorecards read 30-27, 30-27, 29-28, 28-29, 28-29 in favour of Chang.

Pooja was defeated by top-seeded Qian Li of China in the women's 75 kg weight category with a unanimous 5-0 verdict going against her.

Pooja was totally out-boxed by her Chinese opponent and lost all the 3 rounds with a unanimous 5-0 verdict, all the 5 judges scoring each of the 3 rounds 10-9 in favour of Qian.

Ashish was defeated by the top seed Eumir Marcial of Philippines in the men's 75 kg weight category with a split 4-1 verdict going against him.

Marcial started the bout on an aggressive note and took the 1st round with a unanimous 5-0 verdict, all 5 judges scoring the round 10-9 in favour of the Filipino. Although Ashish did try to stage a comeback, it was not enough as Marcial ran away with a split 4-1 verdict with the final judges' scorecards reading 30-27, 30-27, 29-28, 29-28, 28-29 in his favour.

Satish Kumar was defeated by the top seed and reigning World Champion Bakhodir Jalolov of Uzbekistan in the men's +91 kg weight category with a unanimous 5-0 verdict going against him.

It was pretty much a one-sided bout with the Uzbek taking advantage of his reach to keep Satish at bay. The extent of his domination can be ascertained by the final judges' scorecards as they read 30-26, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27 in the Uzbek's favour.

In the midst of the disappointing semi-final results, Sachin brought some cheers to the Indian contingent by defeating Manh Cuong Nguyen of Vietnam in the men's 81 kg weight category with a split 4-1 verdict in his favour. He is now one win away from securing a quota place at the Tokyo Olympics.

The 22-year old Sachin started brightly and got a 4-1 verdict in his favour in the 1st round, 4 judges scoring the round 10-9 for the Indian and the remaining judge scoring it 10-9 for Nguyen.

He was even more dominant in the 2nd round, securing a unanimous 5-0 verdict in his favour with all the 5 judges scoring the round 10-9 in his favour.

Although the final round was evenly contested, Sachin had done enough in the first 2 rounds to emerge the victor by a split 4-1 verdict, the final judges' scorecards reading 30-27, 30-27, 29-28, 29-28, 28-29 in his favour.

What's next?

Vikas will clash against the 4th seeded Zeyad Eashash of Jordan in his Gold medal bout while Simranjit will be facing Oh Yeonji of South Korea in her final encounter.

Sachin on the other hand, will take on Shabbos Negmatulloev of Tajikistan in his final box-off encounter, the winner of which will secure a ticket to the Tokyo Olympics 2020.

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