Record nine Indian boxers in ’20 Games

AMMAN: World bronze-medallist Manish Kaushik (63kg) on Wednesday became the ninth Indian boxer to book an Olympic berth after winning a box-off at the Asian Qualifiers as the country recorded its best ever qualifying numbers for the quadrennial showpiece.

Kaushik defeated Commonwealth Games champion and second seed Harrison Garside 4-1 to make the cut for Tokyo 2020.

It was a repeat of the 2018 CWG final, only this time, Kaushik won. The top six in the 63kg category were entitled to Olympic berths in the ongoing event. Both Kaushik and Garside had lost in the quarterfinals.

The other boxers to qualify are MC Mary Kom (51kg), Simranjit Kaur (60kg), Lovlina Borgohain (69kg), Pooja Rani (75kg), Amit Panghal (52kg), Vikas Krishan (69kg), Ashish Kumar (75kg) and Satish Kumar (+91kg). Before this, India’s best was eight boxers at the 2012 London Olympics.

“For the first time ever nine Indian boxers have qualified for the Olympics, and that too from the first qualifying event. We still have the world qualifiers and I am sure that India will qualify in all 13 categories,” said BFI president Ajay Singh.

First-timer Sachin Kumar (81kg) was pummelled by Shabbos Negmatulloev of Tajikistan in his box-off final to bow out of contention for an Olympic place.

Earlier, Krishan signed off with a silver medal after an eye injury forced him to pull out of the final on Wednesday. Krishan was to take on Jordan’s Zeyad Eashash in the summit clash.

SIMRANJIT LOSES

Simranjit lost 0-5 to Yeonji Oh of South Korea in the final of the 60kg category on Wednesday.