India at Tokyo Olympics: Pooja Rani bows out after a defeat to Qian Li of China

31 July 2021

The Olympic campaign of Pooja Rani has come to an end. The Indian boxer went up against Qian Li of China in the Quarter Finals of the Middleweight category at the Tokyo Olympics today.

Pooja started off with a sense of urgency in the first round when Li was composed on the backfoot. Li was in a comfortable position through the round thanks to her reach when Pooja launched relentless attempts to land. All five judges ruled in favor of Li once the round ended. Li completely dominated the second round and had another clean sweep on the scorecards. Li continued her good run in the third round and gave no room for Pooja Rani for the comeback. In the end, the decision was announced in favor of Li which in turn secured her second straight Olympic medal.

Earlier today, top seed Amit Panghal crashed out of the Olympics after suffering a split-decision defeat to Yuberjen Martinez of Colombia in the Round of 16. Amit, who had received a bye in the Round of 32, had a strong showing in the first round of the matchup and even won the round on the cards of four judges. Martinez, however, came back strongly in the second and third rounds to take home the victory.

Last day, Lovlina Borgohain had confirmed India’s first medal in Boxing at the Tokyo Olympics when she defeated NC Chen of Chinese Taipei in the Quarter-Finals of the Welterweight category. She will now be fighting Busenaz Surmeneli of Turkey in the Semi-finals on Wednesday, August 4, 2021, for a place in the finals.

Mary Kom had bowed out of the tournament a couple of days back after suffering a split-decision defeat to Ingrit Valencia of Colombia in the Round of 16. She then went on to express her displeasure about the judging and added that she will not be quitting the sport.

The likes of Vikas Krishan, Simranjit Kaur, Ashish Kumar, and Manish Kaushik also suffered defeats in their respective fights which resulted in their exit from the tournament. Satish Kumar, meanwhile, is in the quarter-finals after his win over Ricardo Brown in the Round of 16. He will now be fighting for a medal against Bakhodir Jalolov of Uzbekistan in the quarter-finals on 1 August 2021.

What are your thoughts on the performance of the Indian Boxing team so far? Let us know in the comment section of the article below.

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