Ashish, Satish Kumar bag bronze at Asian boxing Olympic qualifiers

While Ashish Kumar and Satish Kumar endured semi-final bouts that didn't quite swing their way at the Asian boxing Olympic qualifiers in Amman, Jordan on Tuesday, their efforts, however, sealed the two Indian boxers a bronze medal each.

Both Indian boxers gave it all in the ring but it wasn’t enough to get them through to the final as Ashish Kumar lost by split decision and Satish Kumar went down via unanimous decision.

Ashish Kumar goes down fighting

Ashish Kumar faced the impressive top seed Eumir Marcial in the men's middleweight Asian boxing Olympic qualifiers semi-final and was taken by surprise with the Filippino pugilist making a brisk start.

Eumir Marcial’s movement made it difficult for Ashish Kumar to catch him with clean shots. The Indian middleweight struggled to grow into the bout, while Marcial’s punches were on the money from the start, connecting with deadly body shots.

Ashish Kumar’s best moments in the first round was when he got his right upper-cut functioning, however, Marcial weaved and ducked to minimize the damage.

The Philippines boxer, though, got the better of the close exchanges and landed crisper shots throughout the first round to win it 5-0.

Ashish Kumar looked to take the attack to Eumir Marcial in the second round and began promisingly with a couple of lefts.

He followed it up with a left-right combo, but the first seed kept his composure to retaliate with a flashing right hook that left its mark on Ashish Kumar.

The Indian boxer kept pushing forward with his left jab only for Marcial to come back with a cluster of left crosses.

Unfazed, the Indian middleweight fought back with chopping rights at close range. Ashish Kumar also ended the round with a left-right combination, but he couldn’t prevent a 1-4 round in favour of Eumir Marcial.

The final round saw the pace of the bout drop with the fighters tiring. Both boxers were involved in heavy exchanges with Ashish Kumar, arguably, getting the better of his opponent.

However, Marcial held his ground and used his exquisite movement to avoid punishment. That said, Ashish Kumar did find success on his backfoot.

The closing stages of the bout had a firefight exchange between the two fighters that led to a standing count against the boxer from the Philippines.

That wasn’t enough to tilt the fight in the Indian’s favour, though, as Eumir Marcial won by split decision.

Satish Kumar bows out in super heavyweight semis

Uzbekistan’s Bakhodir Jalolov, who was the top seed in his division, asserted his authority from the opening round itself.

Satish Kumar looked to fight on the front foot but only ended up eating thumping right-hand leads for his effort.

Both boxers had heavy exchanges towards the midway point of the round but Jalolov seemed to come out of them better because of his straight lefts and rights to the chin.

The Uzbekistani pugilist ended up winning the first round across the board as a result and went on to do the same in the second.

Even though Satish Kumar landed better punches in the second round, beefy lefts by Bakhodir Jalolov, who began using his reach more efficiently ensured another win across the board for the Uzbekistan boxer.

The final round saw the pace drop slightly with Satish Kumar going for broke while looking for a stoppage.

Bakhodir Jalolov, though, was lively with his head movement and footwork, which resulted in not many scoring shots for Satish Kumar.

Satish Kumar’s desperate need for a stoppage also led to him walking into plenty of counters, including a left cross that resulted in a standing count on the bell.

Needless to say, the Indian boxer’s effort, although commendable, couldn’t prevent him from losing the bout via unanimous decision.

When and where to watch the Asian boxing Olympic qualifiers

You can follow all the action from the Asian boxing Olympic qualifiers live exclusively on the Olympic Channel as well as our Facebook page. The evening session is scheduled to begin at 8:30 PM IST.

You can also follow the daily live blog in both English and Hindi on the Olympic Channel.