Tokyo, July 26: Indian boxer Ashish Chaudhary (75kg) paid for an underwhelming start as his maiden Olympic appearance ended with an opening-round loss to China’s Erbieke Touheta here on Monday. The 27-year-old former Asian silver-medallist went down 0-5 in the bout.
The boxer from Himachal Pradesh was caught on the back-foot in the opening round and lost it unanimously to the busy Chinese, who used his jab to good effect.
Ashish raised his game in the second round to give a better account of himself with more attacks but once again, the lack of clear and precise punches hurt his cause.
Ashish went all out in the final three minutes and managed to trouble Touheta despite a cut beneath his left eye. The judges also scored unanimously in his favour but the Chinese had the decisive lead which gave him the victory.
Ashish is the third Indian boxer to bow out after Vikas Krishan (69kg) and Manish Kaushik (63kg) also exited with opening-round losses.
On Wednesday, Lovlina Borgohain (69kg) will take on Germany’s Nadine Apetz in the last-16 stage. (PTI)