Jaismine registered a clinical 5:0 win over Switzerland’s Anna Marija Milisic in the women’s 57kg pre-quarterfinals to get just one win away of a Paris Olympic berth while Sachin will get another chance to win the quota despite losing his men’s 57kg semi-final against 2020 Olympics silver medallist Carlo Paalam in the 2nd Boxing World qualifiers in Bangkok, Thailand, on Saturday.
With the qualifiers heading to the business end, India will still have three opportunities to add another Paris Olympic berth to the one Nishant Dev secured on Friday and Jaismine would be high on confidence after dominating Switzerland’s Milisic in all three rounds.
She will face Mali’s Marine Camara in the quarterfinals and a win in the quarterfinal will assure her a Paris Olympics quota.
But there was a setback for the Indian contingent in the men’s 57kg despite Sachin putting up a spirited performance against Paalam.
The 2024 Strandja Memorial gold medallist took the fight against the Olympic silver medallist in Round 1 and landed a few jabs and hooks and lost the round only by a whisker. But Paalam then increased his pace and grabbed a decisive advantage in Round 2 and consolidated his position in the final round to win 5:0.
With just three Paris Olympic quotas on offer in the men’s 57kg category, Sachin will now have to face Kyrgyzstan’s Munarbek Seiitbek Uul in the play-offs.
India has so far bagged four Paris berths. While Nishant clinched his quota place in Thailand, Nikhat Zareen (women’s 50kg), Preeti (54kg) and Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain (75kg) had confirmed their respective berths by medals at the 2022 Asian Games.
