Boxing Qualification for Olympics 2024: 3 Indian boxers bow out on opening day
It was a day to forget for India at the World Olympic Boxing Qualification Tournament 2024 as three boxers bowed out on the opening day of the competition in Busto Arzicio, Italy, on Sunday. Deepak Bhoria, Narender Berwal and Jaismine Lamboria lost their respective Round-of-64 bouts to end their Paris Olympics 2024 dream.
Deepak Bhoria went down fighting against Azerbaijan's Huseynov Nijat in the Men's 51kg event. The Indian boxer lost the first two rounds with a scoreline of 2-3. He bounced back and defeated Nijat 4-1 in the third round.
However, that wasn't enough as Nijat won the bout with a scoreline of 3-2 in a split decision verdict.
Narender, on the other hand, lost to Germany's Nelvie Tiafack in the Men's +92kg event. The German boxer was too good and won the first two rounds with 4-1 and 3-2. Nelvie grabbed the third round too to win the bout by a 5-0 decision.
Commonwealth Games 2022 bronze medalist Jaismine was up against Japanese boxer Taguchi Ayaka in the 60kg category. She lost all three rounds and saw the final decision go 5-0 in favor of Taguchi Ayaka.
A total of nine Indian boxers will be taking part in the 1st World Olympic Qualifier from March 2 to 11. Jaismine and Ankushita Boro will compete in their respective categories in the women's event.
Meanwhile, the seven Indian male boxers competing for a spot in the Paris Olympics 2024 are Deepak Bhoria, Mohammed Hussamuddin, Shiva Thapa, Narender Berwal, Nishant Dev, Lakshya Chahar, and Sanjeet Kumar.
While three Indian boxers have already been knocked out after Day 1's matches, six are still in contention for the Paris Olympics 2024 quota.
Lakshya Chahar will be in action in 80kg category
Lakshya Chahar's Round-of-64 bout will be against Iran's Gheshlaghi Meysam. He will compete in the Men's 80kg category and the match is scheduled for 3:15 am IST on Tuesday, March 5.