Asian Olympic Qualifiers: Amit Panghal, Mary Kom on a high

India boxer Amit Panghal

World silver-medallist Amit Panghal (52kg) has been given the top billing in the men's competition while the iconic MC Mary Kom (51kg) seeded second in the women's event of the Asian Olympic Qualifiers for boxing starting here today.

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.

India's Mary Kom gears up for training in Italy recently

The Indian team arrived in Jordan on Friday last week after a training stint in Assisi, Italy, a country battling the Coronavirus outbreak which has claimed over 3,000 lives across the world since being discovered in Wuhan, China.

"Everything is fine here. The team is in high spirits and we are looking forward to a strong performance," Indian boxing's High Performance Director Santiago Nieva said.
"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. In some weight categories, depending on the size of the draw, there could be box-offs between losing quarterfinalists to decide the Olympic berths.

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