Indian boxing trio make it to finals of Olympic Test Event
Three of seven Indian pugilists are through to the finals in Tokyo.
Four-time Asian Amateur Boxing Championships medallist Shiva Thapa put up a superb performance against local hopeful Daisuke Narimatsu in the 63kg category to win by a split verdict and advance to the finals of the ongoing Olympic Test Event in Tokyo, Japan.
Also moving on to the finals were fellow Indians Pooja Rani and Ashish in the 75kg and 69kg categories respectively.
AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships silver-medallist Rani prevailed over Brazil's Beatriz Soares by unanimous decision.
Clear winners
Speaking to PTI, India’s High Performance Director Santiago Nieva said, "Both Shiva and Pooja fought close bouts, but they did very well to dominate in the last round. Good performances by both.”
The evening session saw Ashish best another local hopeful in the shape of Japan's Hiroaki Kingyo to make it to the finals.
Not making it any further in the event, however, were Nikhat Zareen (51kg), Simranjeet Kaur (60kg), Sumit Sangwan (91kg) and Vahlimpula (75kg); all of whom lost their semi-final matches and had to settle for bronze. Due to the smaller size of their draws, they had made it to the semifinals without any preliminaries.
Local heavyweights
Zareen lost her bout to Sana Kawano of Japan while Vahlimpuia also experienced defeat to another popular localite in Yuito Morikawa after a unanimous call by the judges.
Both Simranjeet and Sangwan meanwhile fell prey to the Kazakhs. In a pair of matches that ended in split decisions, Rimma Volossenko took down Simranjeet while Aibek Oralbay got the better of Sangwan.
Speaking of these defeats, Nieva also said, "(There were) close losses in a lot of bouts but our boxers could have done better in all of them. I think tactically, the performance could have been better by everyone, be it Nikhat or everyone else."