Mary Kom, Panghal qualify for Tokyo Olympics

Six-time World champion M C Mary Kom (51kg) and World number one Amit Panghal (52kg) qualified for the Tokyo Olympics, while Manish Kaushik (63kg) remained in the hunt for a Tokyo ticket despite losing his quarter-final bout in the Asia/Oceania Qualifiers, in Amman, on Monday.

Second-seeded Mary Kom notched up a comfortable 5-0 win over Philippines' Irish Magno in her quarter-final bout for a ticket to her second Olympic Games. She won a bronze in the 2012 London Olympics when women's boxing was first introduced at the showpiece event.

The 37-year-old will square off against former Youth Olympics champion Yuan Chang of China in the semi-finals.

In the last Indian bout of the day, world bronze-medallist Simranjit Kaur (60kg) upstaged second seed Namuun Monkhor of Mongolia 5-0 to secure her first Olympic place.

With this, the number of Indian boxers securing Olympic berths went up to eight after Satish Kumar (+91kg), Pooja Rani (75kg), Vikas Krishan (69kg), Lovlina Borgohain (69kg) and Ashish Kumar (75kg) advanced to the semi-finals on Sunday.

Earlier, World number one Amit Panghal (52kg) qualified for his maiden Olympic Games, while Manish Kaushik (63kg) remained in the hunt for a Tokyo ticket despite losing his quarter-final bout in the Asia/Oceania Qualifiers.

World silver-medallist and top seed Panghal edged out familiar foe Carlo Paalam of Philippines in a 4-1 split quarter-final verdict, while world bronze-winner Kaushik lost 2-3 to third seed Chinzorig Baatarsukh of Mongolia after another intense battle.

"I dedicate my Olympic quota to my uncle Raj Narayan, it's his birthday and he is someone who gives me a lot of courage," said Panghal after his bout.

VIDEO: Boxing Federation of India

Kaushik also remains in contention for an Olympic berth if he can win the box-off between losing quarter-finalists as the top six boxers will claim Tokyo tickets in the 63kg category.

The 23-year-old Panghal, who is the reigning Asian Games and Asian Championships gold-medallist, had earlier beaten the Filipino in the semi-finals of the 2018 Asian Games and the quarter-finals of the 2019 World Championships, which were also split decisions.

"I followed the instructions given by my coaches. I ensured that he didn't get on top of me. I think I was pretty consistent in all three rounds," Panghal said.

Next up for Panghal is China's Jianguan Hu, who stunned world bronze-medallist and fourth seed Kazakh Saken Bibossinov 5-0.

"I have beaten him in the Asian Championships and I know how to get the better of him," Panghal said of his next opponent.

The Haryana lad didn't exactly look at his best during the bout but his trademark counter-attacking game fetched him the desired result against a rival, who is challenging him more with every fresh encounter.

Kaushik, who was up against an Asian Games silver-medallist, started well but lost steam in the face of relentless body shots by Baatarsukh, a two-time podium finisher at the Asian Championships.

Baatarsukh had lost to Kaushik in the second round of the World Championships last year and he extracted revenge with an aggressive takedown of the Indian, especially in the final three minutes.

However, former junior world champion Sakshi Chaudhary (57kg) failed to secure an Olympic berth after going down to Korea's Im Aeji in the quarters.

The 19-year-old Chaudhary lost 0-5 to Im, who is also a former World Youth champion. Only the semi-finalists are entitled to an Olympic berth in the women's 57kg category of the ongoing event.

Her next shot at Tokyo qualification would be the world qualifiers in May, provided she is selected for it.