Tokyo-bound Simranjit Kaur assured of medal at Asian Boxing Championships
Five of the six Indian boxers, including former Asian champion Shiva Thapa, won their respective quarter-final bouts in Dubai on the second day.
Tokyo Olympics-bound Indian boxer Simranjit Kaur guaranteed herself a medal at the Asian Boxing Championships 2021 after she won her quarter-final bout in Dubai on Tuesday.
Six Indian boxers took the ring on the second day of the meet with five making their way to the semi-finals, including four-time Asian championships medallist and Olympian Shiva Thapa.
Simranjit Kaur, who tested positive for COVID-19 last month, beat Raykhona Kodirova of Uzbekistan by a 4:1 split verdict in the women’s 60kg category.
Simranjit made a cautious start but landed several blows to the face of Kodirova in the second round to take control of the fight.
In the final round, Kodirova resorted to combinations to try and get back into the game but the Indian countered well to seal the bout convincingly.
In the semi-final, Simranjit Kaur will face Rimma Volossenko of Kazakhstan.
Earlier, Shiva Thapa outpunched Nader Odah of Kuwait 5-0 in the men’s 64kg quarter-finals and assured himself a fifth straight Asian championships medal. The Indian will meet top-seeded Bakhodur Usmonov of Tajikistan in the semis.
Thapa has won gold in 2013, a silver in 2017 and two bronze medals (2015 and 2019) at the Asian meet.
In other quarter-finals matches on Tuesday, Sanjeet (men’s 91kg) beat Jasur Qurbonov of Tajikistan 5-0, Sakshi (women’s 54kg) defeated Ruhafzo Haqazarova of Tajikistan by unanimous decision and Jaismine (women’s 57kg) defeated Oyuntsetseg Yesugen of Mongolia by a 4-1 split verdict.
Commonwealth Games gold medallist Mohammad Hussamuddin was the only Indian boxer to lose on the day. He went down 4-1 to reigning world champion and top-seed Mirazizbek Mirzahalilov in the men’s 56kg quarter-finals.
Five Indians will be in action in Wednesday’s quarter-finals including Olympic-bound boxers Amit Panghal (52kg), Vikas Krishan (69kg) and Ashish Kumar (75kg). Varinder (60kg) and Narender (91kg) will be the other two taking the ring.
India sent a 19-member team, including seven Tokyo Olympics-bound Indian boxers, to the Asian championships where 150 boxers from 17 countries are participating.
India’s best performance at the Asian Boxing Championships came in the last edition in 2019 in Bangkok where they won 13 medals, including two golds.