India’s boxing campaign in the first Olympic qualifying round got off to a sad start as veteran Deepak Bhoria lost by a close margin in the men’s 51 kg division in the first round of the first World Olympic Boxing Qualifier on Sunday in Busto Arsizio, Italy.
Bronze medallist at the World Championships Deepak Bhoria was defeated in the opening round by Azerbaijan’s Nijat Huseynov, losing 2:3 to him in the day’s fourth fight. According to two judges, Deepak won the fights 29–28 and 30-27, however the other three judges gave his opponents the victories 28–29, 28–29, and 28–29.
Both boxers entered the opening two rounds in attack mode, making it a close fight. Using his quick reflexes and fast speed, the young Azerbaijani fighter made things tough for Deepak in the ring. With the same 2- 3 result in the first and second rounds, Deepak was eliminated. In the decisive round, the Indian fighter came out swinging and landed some solid punches. Even though he prevailed 4-1 in the first round, Nijat went on to win the fight 3-2 via split decision.
Later on Sunday night, bronze medalists from the Asian Games Narender (+92 kg) and the Commonwealth Games 2022 Jaismine (60 kg) will compete against Nelvie Tiafack of Germany and Ayaka Taguchi of Japan, respectively. Lakshya Chahar, the national 80kg champion, will face Iran’s Gheshlaghi Meysam in the round of 64 on Monday to begin his campaign.
Over 590 fighters will compete in the inaugural World Olympic boxing qualifying competition, which will give 49 quotas in total—28 for men and 21 for women. The second World Qualification Tournament, which takes place in Bangkok from May 23 to June 3, will determine the qualification of 45 to 51 boxers. Each weight category may have one entry from a country whose continental qualification tournament or the first World Qualification Tournament did not produce an athlete qualified for that weight class.
