Asian Boxing Olympic q'fiers: Rani, Vikas seal qualification

Amman (Jordan), March 8 (IANS) Pooja Rani (75kg) on Sunday became the first Indian boxer to secure qualification to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Later, Vikas Krishan (75kg) beat Japanese third seed Sewonrets Okazawa by unanimous decision to qualify for his third Olympics.This was Rani and her Thai opponent Pomnipa Chutee's first bout at the Asian Olympic qualifiers in Amman after both pugilists got byes in the first round. She was dominant throughout the bout, taking the first two rounds by unanimous decisions. Her 18-year-old opponent needed a knockout in the third to go through which she never looked close to getting and Rani was declared 5-0 winner. Vikas chose to stay defensive and draw his opponent in for much of the bout. The ploy worked with the Commonwealth Games gold medallist as he managed to land straight punches into the body consistently. The judges in the end gave a 5-0 decision in his favour. Sachin Kumar (81kg) however, could not get past China's Daxaing Chen and lost a close bout 3-2. Lovlina Borgohain (69kg), Ashish Kumar (75kg) and Satish Kumar (+91kg) all take the ring later in the day for their respective qualification bouts.
--IANS rkm/rt