Indian boxers Kapil Pokhariya and Sparsh Kumar bow out of ASBC Asian Elite Boxing Championships after losing their respective round of 16 bouts in Amman, Jordan on Thursday.
Kapil (86 kg), who was making his international debut, was up against Iran’s Pouria Amiri. The boxer from Uttarakhand started the bout in attacking fashion and dominated his opponent to comfortably win the first round.
His Iranian opponent showed his experience and came back strongly in the second round with a flurry of relentless punches. Kapil tried to counter-attack but conceded a lot of punches in the process. Pouria continued to control the bout against a tired Kapil and secured a comfortable 5-0 win.
Late on Wednesday night, Sparsh (51kg) went down fighting and lost the bout 1-4 against the Olympic bronze medallist and reigning World Champion Saken Bibossinov of Kazakhstan.
Savita (50kg) too lost 0-5 against Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist Tsukimi Namiki of Japan in the round of 16.
Five Indian men boxers including five-time Asian medallist Shiva Thapa (63.5kg) will be in action on Friday. The other 4 boxers who will take the ring are Ananta Chopade (54kg), Etash Khan (60kg), Amit Kumar (67kg) and Sachin (71kg). All of them will be playing in the prequarterfinal bouts.
The competition is witnessing the participation of 267 boxers from 27 top boxing nations.
Squad
Men: Govind Sahani (48kg), Sparsh Kumar (51kg), Ananta Chopade (54kg), Md. Hussamuddin (57kg), Etash Khan (60kg), Shiva Thapa (63.5kg), Amit Kumar (67kg), Sachin (71kg), Sumit (75kg), Lakshya (80kg), Kapil (86kg), Naveen (92kg), Narender (+92kg).
Women: Monika (48kg), Savita (50kg), Minakshi (52kg), Sakshi (54kg), Preeti (57kg), Simranjit (60kg), Parveen (63kg), Ankushita Boro (66kg), Pooja (70kg), Lovlina Borgohain (75kg), Saweety (81kg), Alfiya Pathan (+81kg).