Panghal gets top billing, Mary Kom seeded 2nd in Olympic Qualifiers

Eight men and five women from India will be aiming to secure Tokyo Olympics berths at the continental event being conducted by the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Boxing Task Force. While Panghal is the lone Indian man to be seeded, two-time world bronze-medallist Lovlina Borgohain (69kg) and Pooja Rani (75kg) have been seeded second and fourth respectively in the women’s competition.

The Indian team arrived in Jordan on Friday last week after a training stint in Assisi, Italy. “Everything is fine here. The team is in high spirits and we are looking forward to a strong performance,” said Indian boxing’s High Performance Director Santiago Nieva. “We have worked on some areas to ensure that our opponents do not stand a chance,” he asserted.

The tournament has 63 quota places on offer and a boxer will be assured for a Tokyo ticket on reaching the semifinals stage.

Squad: Men: Amit Panghal (52kg), Gaurav Solanki (57kg), Manish Kaushik (63 kg), Vikas Krishan (69kg), Ashish Kumar (75kg), Sachin Kumar (81kg), Naman Tanwar (91kg) and Satish Kumar (+91kg).

Women: MC Mary Kom (51kg), Sakshi Chaudhary (57kg), Simranjit Kaur (60kg), Lovlina Borgohain (69kg) and Pooja Rani (75kg).