Boxing World Qualifiers: Arundhati, Ankushita & Nishant Advance to Pre-QFs

National champion Arundhati Choudhary registered a convincing victory in 66kg weight category to reach the pre-quarter-finals while Narender Berwal (+92kg) ended up on the losing side of a 3:2 verdict in the Boxing World Qualifiers for 2024 Paris Olympics in Bangkok, Thailand, on Wednesday.

Choudhary began her campaign with a clinical Round 1 against Stephanie Pieneiro of Puerto Rico. She was slightly conservative in Round 2 as she consolidated her position before again dominating the next round to get a unanimous 5:0 verdict in her favour.

Ankushita Boro beat Rimma Volossenko of Kazakhstan 4-1 in the 60kg pre-quarters while Nishant Dev (71kg) thumped Thailand’s Peerapat Yeasungnoen 5-0 to earn a spot in the quarterfinals.

In the morning session, Berwal had put up a strong fight against Ecuador’s Gerlon Gilmar Congo Chala but it was not enough to advance to the next round. The 2022 Asian Games bronze medallist started slow in Round 1 and was then forced to catch up.

He did well to impress three of the five judges with his punches in Round 2 and 3 of the Round of 32 bout. However, his efforts were not enough to overturn the overall deficit.