Stunning Sakshi surges
Amman (Jordan), March 4: Former junior world champion Sakshi Chaudhary (57kg) stunned Asian silvermedallist and fourth seed Nilawan Techasuep of Thailand to enter the quarterfinals of the Asian Olympic Qualifiers for boxing here on Wednesday.
The two-time youth world champion Indian, who is only 19, prevailed in a split verdict against the Asian Games bronzemedallist in an engrossing second-round bout after both the boxers got opening-round byes.
Sakshi will next be up against Korea’s Im Aeji on March 9. Making the semifinals would assure her of a spot in the Tokyo Olympics scheduled in July-August this year.
The opening round was fought on even keel for most part but Sakshi managed to be ahead of her fancied rival in a split verdict.
Techasuep came out all guns blazing in the second round and caught Sakshi off-guard with a barrage of combination straight punches.
The Indian was pushed to the backfoot by the aggressive Thai, whose left jab was particularly eye-catching.
But the judges ruled in Sakshi’s favour in a 3-2 second round verdict.
In the final three minutes, Saskhi's counterattacks proved enough to trump Techasuep's consistent aggression.
“I stuck to the strategy of counter-attack through the bout and I think she couldn't handle it. My coaches had told me not to deviate from the plan and I didn't,” Saskhi said after the bout.
Earlier on Tuesday, the seasoned duo of Gaurav
Solanki (57kg) and Ashish Kumar (75kg) advanced to the pre-quarterfinals in the men's draw.
I stuck to the strategy of counter-attack through the bout and I think she couldn’t handle it. My coaches had told me not to deviate from the plan and I didn’t. — SAKSHI Indian boxer after her 4-1 win over Thailand’s Nilawan Techasuep
Sakshi will take on Korea’s Im Aeji for a spot in the women’s 57kg semifinal on March 9 in Jordan.