Paris 2024 Olympics boxing: Preeti Pawar wins opener by unanimous decision, moves into pre-quarterfinals

India’s Preeti Pawar marched into the women’s 54kg round of 16 boxing event at the Paris 2024 Olympics with a 5-0 win over Vietnam’s Vo Thi Kim Anh at the North Paris Arena on Saturday.

The 20-year-old Indian boxer recovered after a slow start to land solid blows in the final minute of the first round. However, the split verdict was awarded to Vo Thi Kim Anh, a six-time Vietnamese national champion.

"When I went into the ring I was only thinking about what I needed to do," Preeti said. "In the first round I wanted to check her range and make her fight in my range, but I ended up losing the first round by split decision.

“But I changed my strategy. I needed to pressure her more and in the second and third rounds I forced her to make backward steps and I went forward a lot more,” she explained.

Courtesy of some solid punches and hooks, Pawar bagged the second round.

Preeti Pawar entered the third round in attacking mode and pushed Vo Thi Kim Anh on the back foot from the start. The Vietnamese boxer went into defence but Preeti connected some punches to enter the round of 16.

A semi-final appearance in boxing guarantees a medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Last year, Preeti Pawar secured a Paris 2024 quota for India in the women’s 54kg with a bronze medal at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, the People’s Republic of China, last year.

A total of six Indian boxers are competing at the Paris 2024 Olympics. Two-time world champion Nikhat Zareen will face Maxi Carina Kloetzer of Germany in her round of 32 bout on Sunday.

Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain (women’s 75kg), Amit Panghal (men’s 51kg), Nishant Dev (men’s 71kg), Jaismine Lamboria (women’s 57kg) will also compete in the coming days.