Manish Kaushik punches his way to Tokyo Olympics, 9th Indian boxer to qualify

Amman (Jordan): India continues to secure qualification spots in boxing at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with Manish Kaushik (63kg) on Wednesday becoming the ninth boxer from the country to qualify for the quadrennial games. Manish Kaushik, the world bronze-medallist, secured a place in Tokyo Olympics after getting the better of Australia's Harrison Garside in a brutal match at the Asian Qualifiers at Amman.

The Indian boxer, who will be taking part in his first Olympics at Tokyo, defeated Garside 4-1 to join eight other teammates at games. After the match, Kaushik asserted that his dream had come true. "It was my dream to play at the Olympics and today it has finally come true for me and my family. My coaches have made a huge contribution in this," Kaushik said.

With Kaushik's qualification, India also secured its highest ever Olympic quota in boxing with nine pugilists. The best till date was 2012 London Olympics when eight Indian boxer had qualified.

The second-seeded Garside is the 2018 Commonwealth Games champion where he had defeated Kaushik in the final.

Both boxer gave their all in the match at Amman with Garside fighting with a bloodied face and Kaushik, too, braving some painful hits to his ribs. The top six in the 63kg category were entitled to Olympic berths in the ongoing event. Both Kaushik and Garside had lost in the quarterfinals.

Earlier, Olympic-bound Commonwealth Games champion Vikas Krishan (69kg) signed off with a silver medal after an eye injury forced him to pull out of the final. Krishan, a world and Asian medallist, was to take on Jordan's Zeyad Eashash in the summit clash.

"He will not compete because of the cut. He has been told by the doctors to pull out," a source close to the boxer told PTI.

He defeated second seed Ablaikhan Zhussupov of Kazakhstan, a two-time world bronze-medallist, in the semifinals on Tuesday. He sustained a cut on his left eyelid in the second round of the bout before claiming a split decision victory.

The eight other Indians to have qualified for the Olympics are Mangte Chungneijang Mary Kom (51kg), Simranjit Kaur (60kg), Lovlina Borgohain (69kg), Pooja Rani (75kg), Amit Panghal (52kg), Ashish Kumar (75kg) and Satish Kumar (+91kg).

Sachin Kumar (81kg), competing for the first time for a place in the Olympics, was pummelled by Shabbos Negmatulloev of Tajikistan in his box-off final to bow out of contention for an Olympic place at this event.

(With inputs from PTI)