World Championships bronze medallist Deepak Bhoria’s Asian Games campaign ended in heartbreak as he bowed out with a pre-quarterfinal loss even as Nishant Dev and Jaismine Lamboria advanced to the last eight in Hanghzhou on Thursday. Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Jaismine (60kg) packed a powerful punch to notch an RSC (referee stops contest win) win in her opening bout against Hadeel Ghazwan Ashour of Saudi Arabia to move to the quarterfinals.
While the 2023 world championship bronze medallist Nishant (71kg) needed less than two minutes to knock out Bui Phuoc Tung of Vietnam in his Round of 16 bout.
But Deepak (51kg) went down by a 1-4 verdict to 2021 bantamweight world champion Tomoya Tsuboi of Japan.
Handed a difficult draw, the 26-year-old Hisar boxer was unlucky to meet the Japanese pugilist early on in the tournament. It was always going to be tricky against Tsuboi and Deepak was made aware of it in the first few seconds of the bout itself.
The Japanese was quick off the block as he connected a flurry of punches pinning the Indian on the back foot.
Deepak retaliated with his trademark left hook but struggled to keep up with the fast pace of the Japanese, who took the round 0-5.
Early strikes in the second round helped Deepak take control of the bout while Tsuboi was warned a couple of times for holding.
The two boxers were involved in some heavy exchanges and Deepak was able to take the round 3-2.
However, after two high paced rounds, fatigue caught up with the two boxers and Tsuboi managed to evade attacks from Deepak and do just enough to seal the contest.
Earlier, competing in her maiden Asian Games in the women’s 60kg category, Jaismine needed less than five minutes to end the bout.
The Indian, who received a first round bye, was at her belligerent best as she unleashed a series of jabs and hooks on her opponent.
The referee gave the Saudi Arabian boxer two standing counts before she was forced to stop the contest in the second round.
Both Jaismine and Nishant are now one win away from assuring themselves of medals.
If Jaismine reaches the semifinals she will also earn an Olympic quota while Nishant has to reach the summit clash to seal a berth for the Paris Games.
In the quarterfinal, Jaisimine and Nishant will be up against North Korean boxer Won Ungyong and Japan’s S.Q.M Okazawa respectively.
In the women’s events, the semifinalists in the 50kg, 54kg, 57kg, and 60kg while the finalists in the 66kg and 75kg will qualify for the Paris Olympics.
The gold and silver medallists in each of the seven weight divisions in the men’s event will receive Olympic quotas. (Asian Games 2023 Medals Tally | Asian Games 2023 Full Schedule)
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