Boxing World Olympic Qualifiers: Siwach, Sanjeet, Amit, Jasmine advance to pre-quarters

Four Indian boxers took another step towards Paris Olympic qualification as they registered convincing victories to advance to the next round of the Boxing World Qualifiers in Bangkok, Thailand, on Thursday.

Sachin Siwach (57kg), Sanjeet Kumar (92kg), Amit Panghal (51kg) and Jaismine (women’s 57kg) scripted wins. Siwach started the proceedings with a clinical 5-0 win over Olympian Batuhan Ciftci of Turkey in the pre-quarterfinal round.

Sanjeet then saw off the challenge from Luis Sanchez of Venezuela with an identical margin in the Round of 32.

According to rules, in the men’s 57kg Category only three boxers will make cut for the Paris Olympic, Siwach therefore needs to win two more bouts to make the cut while Sanjeet, who got a bye in the Round of 64, will have a similar target as all four semi-finalists will qualify in his weight category.

ALSO READ | Boxing World Olympic Qualifiers: Arundhati advances to pre-quarters, Narender Berwal bows out

Later in the day, Jaismine did not give Azerbaijan’s Mahsati Hamzayeva any chance of even putting up a fight as she clinched the women’s 57kg category Round of 32 bout with a 5:0 verdict.

2022 Commonwealth Games gold medallist Amit Panghal then completed a perfect day for the Indian contingent as he got the better of Mexico’s Mauricio Ruiz 4-1.

The Indian National champion was under pressure in Round 1 but he picked up pace in the last minute of that round and then turned the match around with a couple of combination punches in the third and final round to clinch the win.