Boxers Satish, Sumit advance in World Olympic qualifiers

Asian Games bronze-medallist Satish Kumar (+91kg) and Sumit Sangwan (81kg) notched up facile wins to enter the second round of the International Boxing Association's World Olympic Qualification tournament in Baku.

Satish, a former Asian Championships bronze-winner, defeated Manase Kaho Raikadroga of Tonga 3-0 to set up a clash with Ireland's Dean Gardiner in the next round.

"Satish was faced with an opponent of short height. The fellow tried to unsettle Satish with his wild swings but Satish did extremely well to box from long range and strike him on counter-attack," national coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu said.

Sumit, on the other hand, got the better of Trinidad's Andrew Fermin 3-0. The 23-year-old will be up against eighth seed Juan Carlos Carrilo Palacio of Colombia in his second-round contest.
"Sumit was very dominant all through. His performance was clinical," Sandhu said.

However, it was curtains for Dheeraj Rangi (60kg) after he went down to top seed Lindolfo Garza of Mexico in a hard-fought bout. The Indian lost 1-2.

"Dheeraj's loss can only be called bad luck because he gave it his all. He was brilliant with his uppercuts and it is unfortunate that he ended on the losing side," Sandhu said.

The tournament has 39 qualifying spots up for grabs -- two in the 49kg category, five each in 52kg, 56kg, 60kg, 64kg, 69kg, 75kg and 81kg, and one each in 91kg and +91kg. Over 400 boxers from more than 100 countries are vying for these slots in the final qualifying tournament for amateur boxers.

India have not sent any entry in the 56kg category as Shiva Thapa has already qualified for the Rio Games during the Asian qualifiers in March.