Amman: A resolute Vikas Krishan (69kg) and Simranjit Kaur (60kg) advanced to the finals with impressive victories but the legendary M C Mary Kom (51kg) and world number one Amit Panghal (52kg) signed off with bronze medals at the Asian Olympic Qualifiers here on Tuesday.
Also ending with bronze medals were Lovlina Borgohain (69kg) and Pooja Rani (75kg).
All the six boxers have already secured their tickets to the Olympic Games by making the semifinals but Krishan and Kaur will come back with at least silver medals after entering the finals. Krishan fought with a cut sustained on his left eyelid before claiming a split decision victory over second seed Ablaikhan Zhussupov of Kazakhstan, a two-time world bronze-medallist. The 28-year-old Krishan will face feisty Jordanian Eishaih Hussein, who sent Asian gold-medallist and top seed Bobo-Usmon Baturov packing in a split decision.
Krishan, a former world bronze-winner and a Commonwealth Games gold-medallist, was the busier of the two boxers despite the injury he picked up in the second round and his right jabs were particularly effective through the bout.
Kaur, on the other hand, upstaged third seed and Asian silver-medallist Shih-Yi Wu of Taiwan in a terrific come-from-behind win. The Indian trailed in the opening round, roared back in the second with her precisely-placed combination punches before fending off a strong attack from Wu in the final three minutes. She will take on Korea’s Oh Yeonji in the final on Wednesday.
In another good result, first-timer Sachin Kumar (81kg) remained in the hunt for an Olympic berth by defeating Manh Cuong Nguyen of Vietnam 4-1 in the first box-off.
He will have to get the better of Shabbos Negmatulloev of Tajikistan in the last box-off on Wednesday to book a ticket to Tokyo as only the top five qualify in his weight category. (PTI)
