Manish Kaushik, Sachin Kumar aim to continue Indian winning streak
Both the Indian pugilists, along with the returning Ashish Kumar will be duking it out to earn quarter-final spots.
After the Indian women boxer’s Asian boxing Olympic qualifiers campaign got underway on Wednesday and culminated in a two-day unbeaten run for India, Thursday will see the focus return to the men, as Manish Kaushik and Sachin Kumar take to the ring for the first time while Ashish Kumar will be returning to action, hoping to get to the next stage.
The day will feature three round-of-16 matches, as first, Indian boxer Ashish Kumar will go up against Kyrgyztan's Omurbek Bekzhigit Uulu in the morning. Then, in the evening, Manish Kaushik will face Chinese Taipei’s Chu-En Lai in the men’s lightweight (57-63kg) category and finally, Sachin Kumar will touch gloves with Samoa’s Dee Ioapo for their men’s light heavyweight (75-81kg) bout.
Ashish Kumar meets a familiar foe
Ashish Kumar had defeated Taiwan's Chia-Wei Kan 5-0 on Tuesday and will go up against Kyrgyztan's Omurbek Bekzhigit Uulu on Thursday.
It won't be the first time Ashish Kumar will be facing the fourth-seeded Uulu and he will be relishing a chance to repeat his Asian Championships performance last year, when he defeated the Kyrgyz in the quarter-finals.
Manish Kaushik’s trial-free run
Every one of India’s 13-boxer contingent at the Asian boxing Olympic qualifiers had to slug it out in the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) trials back in December. Everyone, that is, except Manish Kaushik, who, along with Amit Panghal, were exempt from the trials due to their medal-winning performances at the 2019 AIBA World Boxing Championships held in Yekaterinburg.
The 2018 Commonwealth Games bronze-medallist Manish Kaushik was granted a bye and will take on fellow bye Chu-En Lai, whose last showing at the Olympics in Rio saw him finish 17th, directly in the second round, which takes place Thursday evening.
Sachin Kumar’s Samoan challenge
Sachin Kumar, however, did have to go through the trials. Outfighting Services Sports Control Board’s Brijesh Yadav, he won by a 6-3 split decision.
The Haryana State Boxing Tournament gold-medallist has been granted a bye and will square off against fellow bye Dee Ioapo, a former Boxing NSW State Title winner from Samoa, in the round of 16.
Going forward at the Asian boxing Olympic qualifiers
A win against Uulu will see Ashish Kumar through to the quarter-finals, where he will face the winner of the round-of-16 bout between Maikhel Roberrd Muskita and Ryan Scaife.
A win for Manish Kaushik on Thursday will see him through to the quarter-finals, where he will face the winner of the second-round bout between Papua New Guinea’s John Ume and third seed Chinzorig Baatarsukh of Mongolia.
Should he beat Dee Ioapo, Sachin Kumar will also make it into the quarter-finals, where he will go up against the victor from the second round bout between China's Daxaing Chen and Kyrgyzstan's Erkin Adylbek.
When and where to watch the Asian boxing Olympic qualifiers
You can follow all the action from the Asia/Oceania Boxing Qualification live exclusively on the Olympic Channel as well as our Facebook page. The morning session will get underway at 1:30 PM IST while 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.