Tokyo Olympics 2020, Asia-Oceania Boxing Qualifiers: Simranjit Kaur becomes eighth Indian boxer to seal Olympic spot

What's the story?

Simranjit Kaur became the eighth Indian boxer to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics 2020 after reaching the semifinals of the Asia-Oceania zone Olympic Boxing Qualifiers in the women's 60kg weight category.

In case you didn't know...

The Asia-Oceania Olympic Qualification Tournament for Boxing is being held at the Prince Hamzah Hall in Amman, Jordan from 3rd to 11th March. The Indian boxers competed in all the 13 weight categories (8 for men and 5 for women) at the qualifiers.

Across the men's and women's weight categories, a total of 11 Indian boxers had reached the quarterfinals, just one win away from qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics. Five of these boxers had already booked a ticket to the Olympics on Sunday after winning their respective quarter-final bouts.

Simranjit was the last Indian boxer to take to the ring on Monday after Amit Panghal and Mary Kom had already booked their tickets for the Olympics after winning their quarterfinal encounters.

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Earlier in the tournament, Simranjit had defeated Rimma Volossenko of Kazakhstan with a unanimous 5-0 verdict in her Round of 16 encounter to make it through to the quarterfinals.

There are 4 Olympic quota places up for grabs in the women's 60 kg weight category at these qualifiers.

The heart of the matter

India ended the evening session of Day 7 at the Asia-Oceania zone Olympic Boxing Qualifiers on a winning note as Simranjit Kaur became the eighth Indian boxer to seal a quota place for the Tokyo Olympics 2020 after winning her quarter-final bout.

The 2018 World Championship bronze medalist defeated second seed Namuun Monkhor of Mongolia to qualify for the semi-finals of the women's 60 kg weight category with a unanimous 5-0 verdict in her favour.

Quota No 8💪@Simranjitboxer pulled off a stunner as she defeated NMonkhor of 🇲🇳to book her first #Olympic Games ticket to #Tokyo2020. Super show by 🇮🇳 as they equalize best ever representation and still 2⃣more quotas to earn from the Asian Qualifiers. Way to go Guys.💪#boxing pic.twitter.com/vW3dDclLgj

— Boxing Federation (@BFI_official) March 9, 2020

The bout was fought at a frenetic pace with both boxers throwing a flurry of punches at each other. But it was Simranjit who got the better of the exchanges using her right jabs to telling effect. She won both the first two rounds with a unanimous 5-0 verdict, all the 5 judges scoring both the rounds 10-9 in the Indian's favour.

Aware that she had almost sealed the bout, Simranjit took it a little easy in the final round but never let her guard down to allow her opponent to make a comeback. Even though she won the final round with a split 3-2 verdict with 3 judges scoring the round 10-9 in her favour and the other 2 judges scoring it 10-9 for her opponent, it was enough to win the bout with a unanimous 5-0 verdict. The final judges' scorecards read 30-27, 30-27, 30-27, 29-28, 29-28 in the Indian's favour.

Earlier in the day, Amit Panghal and Mary Kom became the sixth and seventh Indian boxers to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics 2020 after winning their quarterfinal encounters in the men's 52 kg and women's 51 kg weight categories respectively.

Amit secured a split 4-1 verdict against Carlo Paalam of Philippines with the final judges' scorecards reading 30-27, 29-28, 29-28, 29-28, 27-30 in his favour.

Mary defeated Irish Magno of Philippines by a unanimous 5-0 verdict with the final judges' scorecards reading 30-26, 30-27, 30-27, 29-28, 29-28 in her favour.

But it was not a perfect day for India as Sakshi Chaudhary and Manish Kaushik lost their respective quarterfinal encounters in the women's 57 kg and men's 63 kg weight categories respectively. While it is the end of the road for Sakshi at these qualifiers, Manish can still make the cut for the Olympics if he gets through a box-off with another losing quarterfinalist.

What's next?

Simranjit will clash against the third-seeded Wu Shih-Yi Wu of Chinese Taipei in her semi-final encounter.

All the 8 Indian boxers who have qualified for the Olympics would not like to rest on their laurels but go on and win the title here as the ranking points gained would stand them in good stead for the seeding at the Olympics.

On the other hand, Manish Kaushik and Sachin Kumar would be hoping to win their box-off encounters and take the Indian boxers' Olympic qualification count to 10 at these qualifiers.

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