Nine Indian Boxers Qualify for 2020 Tokyo Olympics: Who Are They?

A look at the nine Indian boxers who have qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

(Photo: IOA/The Quint)

Nine Indian boxers have qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, making this India’s biggest-ever boxing contingent at the quadrennial event.

Before this, the most boxers representing India at one Games was at the 2012 London edition, when women’s boxing was introduced for the first time and MC Mary Kom won her historic bronze. A team of eight had qualified that year. In 2016, just three had made the cut and returned without a medal.

Led from the front by stalwarts like Mary and Vikas Krishan, the Indian team now also comprises medal favorites like world number 1 Amit Panghal and also some young turks, who could be relied upon to pull off a few upsets.

1. Vikas Krishan (69 kg)

At just 28, Krishan has managed to become only the second-ever Indian boxer, after Vijender Singh, to qualify for three Olympic Games.

While he got knocked out in the first round in his Olympics debut in Beijing, he made it till the quarter finals in Rio and now, as he goes into the Tokyo Games, he does carry the mantle of being India’s medal favourite from boxing.

Vikas competes in the 69-kg category and had won a gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games but settled for bronze at the Asian Games that year, after being forced to pull out of the semi-final due to an eye injury.

Krishan was carrying a back injury last year, following his short unbeaten stint in professional boxing.

On Wednesday, 18 March, yet another eye injury saw Krishan settle for silver at the Asian Qualifiers in Amman, as he was forced to concede the final to Jordan’s Zeyad Eashash.

He was carrying that injury in the semi-final as well but managed to knock out second seed and World Championships bronze medallist Ablaikhan Zhussupov of Kazakhstan with a 3-2 verdict, that gave him his ‘Ticket to Tokyo’.

2. Simranjit Kaur (60 kg)

Simranjit and Vikas were the two boxers who reached the gold medal match at the Asian Qualifiers but, much like Krishan, Simranjit too had to settle for silver after she lost the final 0-5 to Asian Games gold medallist Yeonji Oh of South Korea.

The 24-year-old is a former World Championship bronze medallist from 2018 and an Asian silver-medallist from 2019.

Enroute her silver, the girl from Punjab had beaten third seed and Asian silver-medallist Shih-Yi Wu of Taiwan in a terrific come-from-behind win. She trailed in the opening round but roared back in the second with her precisely-placed combination punches before fending off a strong attack from Wu in the final three minutes.

That win assured her a berth in the Tokyo Olympics.

3. MC Mary Kom (51 kg)

MC Mary Kom, India’s only female boxer to win an Olympic medal, has qualified for her second Olympic Games at the age of 37.

The six-time world champion won her bronze at the London edition eight years back and much like the proverbial old wine, the stalwart of Indian sport has refused to give up. She fought her way through a very controversial national qualifier and emerged as India’s number one pick for the 51-kg event once again and then after months of training, came into the qualifying event in Amman as one of the boxers to beat. Her campaign finally ended in the semi-final when China's Chang Yuan, a former Youth Olympics champion beat her in a split verdict.

By then though, Mary had booked herself a berth in Tokyo.

She said her experience of over two decades will be her biggest weapon against younger opponents at the Games this summer.

“It is huge for me. I feel as if I have proved myself. It really means a lot and a huge weight is off my shoulders. I hope it changes the mindset of people who are against me, people who try to manipulate and bring politics into sport.”

MC Mary Kom

4. Amit Panghal (52 kg)

To say Amit is India’s biggest bet for a gold medal in boxing would be more than just a partisan predication as the 24-year-old is also currently the world number one in his weight category.

Panghal is currently enjoying a purple patch in his career after winning a gold at the 2018 Asian Games and then another gold at the 2019 Asian Championships before winning a historic silver at the 2019 World Championships.

In 2019, he was also forced to change weight categories after his favoured 49-kg was dropped from the Olympic roster.

At Amman, Panghal settled for bronze after losing his semi-final to China's Hu Jianguan, who was a bronze medallist at the Rio Olympics as well as the 2019 Asian Championships.

5. Lovlina Borgohain (69 kg)

A gold medallist from the 2018 India Open, two-time World Championship bronze medallist from 2018 and 2019 and also a bronze winner from the 2017 Asian Championships, Lovlina Borgohain was one of the front-runners to bag an Olympic berth for India in women’s boxing.

Seeded second in the women's 69-kg category at the Asian Olympic qualifiers, the Assamese boxer booked a spot in her maiden Olympics with a solid 5-0 victory over Uzbek boxer Maftunakhon Melieva in the quarter-final in Jordan.

‘Competing in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics was a dream of mine and now it’s going to come true… Qualifying for the Games though is easy, winning a gold medal is tough but I will give it my best,” said the 22-year-old after locking her spot.

6. Pooja Rani (75 kg)

Pooja was one of three Indian boxers, including Lovelina and Satish Kumar (+91kg), who needed to win just one bout to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics, at the Asian qualifying event in Jordan.

Having got a bye in the first round, Pooja did not waste this opportunity as she became the first Indian woman to qualify for the Tokyo Games.

Her second round bout was against Thailand’s Pomnipa Chutee and Rani was dominant throughout as she closed out a 5-0 win. After the bout, she revealed that she had not watched her opponent’s previous bouts and had decided with her coaches to take things as they come, in the rink.

7. Ashish Kumar (75 kg)

The last six months for the 24-year-old have seen the greatest of highs and also a great personal low.

Having struggled with the sport and even entertained the thought of quitting it altogether, Ashish’s resurgence started with a victory over the 75-kg national champion and South Asian Games gold-medallist Ankit Khatana at the national trials in December that earned him a spot in the Asian qualifiers.

With that confidence and having won silvers at the 2019 Asian Boxing Championships and India Open, Ashish started his campaign in Jordan with solid wins including one against fourth seed Bekzhigit Uulu Omurbek of Kyrgyzstan. The final scoreline was 5-0.

He then beat Maikhel Muskita by a unanimous decision to block his ticket to Tokyo. After the quarter-final win, he dedicated the achievement to his father who had passed away just a month back.

“It was his dream to see me at the Olympics. So, whatever I have done, I did to fulfill his dreams. It was my wish too, but I want to dedicate this achievement to him. I have been making sacrifices for boxing for over 13-14 years. Sometimes, I thought I would leave the sport. My father used to support me a lot, my brothers and my family as well. They never let me back down,” said Ashish after the bout.

8. Satish Kumar (+91 kg)

Satish Kumar needed to win just one berth to qualify for Tokyo and he did that with ease, beating Otgonbayer Daivii to become the first Indian boxer in the super heavyweight category to qualify for the Games.

The 2018 Commonwealth Games silver medallist, 2014 Asian Games bronze medallist and two-time bronze-winner at the Asian Championships (2015 and 2019) is also an Arjuna awardee.

The 30-year-old was seeded fourth in the +91-kg category at Jordan and has to his name five national titles. “I have toiled so much for so many years, won medals here and there but nothing compares to this. I am over the moon,” said the man from Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh after his qualification.

Box-Offs

9. Manish Kaushik (63 kg)

World Championship bronze-medallist Manish Kaushik was the ninth and final Indian boxer to qualify for the Tokyo Games through the Asian Qualifying event.

After losing his quarter-final bout, Manish was given another chance to seal his spot in Tokyo through a box-off where he beat Australia's second seed Harrison Garside 4-1. The bout was a repeat of the 2018 Commonwealth Games (CWG) final. However, it was Kaushik who ended up on the winning side this time around.

The top six boxers in the 63-kg category were entitled to Olympic berths and thus the losing quarter-finalists had to fight each other to bag the last two spots.