World Olympic Boxing Qualifiers: Ankushita Boro bags a win; Abhimanyu Loura suffers a loss on Day 4
In the ongoing second World Olympic Boxing Qualifiers, Ankushita Boro, the former world youth champion, dominated Namuun Monkhor from Mongolia in the 60 kg category. However, Abhimanyu Loura couldn’t make it big against Kelyn Cassidy from Ireland in the second round of the 80 kg category in Bangkok, Thailand for the upcoming Paris Olympics 2024.
Ankushita Boro was the first Indian woman in action and it was her final chance to secure a ticket for the forthcoming Paris Games. She initiated her campaign against her opponent from Mongolia.
She was quick with her reflexes by tactically shifting gears to carve out a 4-1 win after three tight rounds to secure a win in the opening round and move to the second round.
On the other hand, it was a day to forget for Abhimanyu Loura. The National Championships bronze medallist defeated Bulgaria’s 10-time national champion Kristiyan Nikolov in the first round to make it to the first round.
However, in the second round of the World Olympic Boxing Qualifiers against two-time Irish champion Cassidy, he couldn't create an impact as the Indian went on to lose by 0-5 despite Loura giving his best in the final round.
3 more boxers to compete on Day 5 of the World Olympic Boxing Qualifiers
On May 28, Tuesday, Sachin Siwach (57kg), Abhinash Jamwal (63.5kg), and Nishant Dev (71kg) will look to continue their march towards their quest for an Olympic quota.
Sachin will lock horns with Frederik Jensen of Denmark while Jamwal will compete against Colombia’s Jose Manuel Viafara Fory. Nishant Dev will take on Otgonbaatar Byamba-Erdene of Mongolia.
India has already secured three quotas for the Paris Games with Nikhat Zareen (women’s 50kg), Preeti (54kg), and Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain (75kg) confirming their berths by winning bronze medals at the Asian Games in 2023 in China.
India has picked seven men and three women boxers for the ongoing World Olympic Boxing Qualifiers and five of them have received an opening round bye. Interestingly, Indian boxers drew blank at the first World Boxing Qualification competition held in Busto Arsizio, Italy in March 2024.