Boxer Neeraj one win away from Olympic qualification

TIL Desk Sports/ WBC Asian champion Neeraj Goyat was the lone Indian left in fray for an Olympic berth after he entered the semifinals even as other two bowed out following first round losses in the International Boxing Association’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament for professional boxers in Vargas, Venezuela. The 24-year-old Neeraj (69kg) defeated Greece’s Dimitrios Poulikos Tsagkrakos 3-0 and will be up against second-seeded German Arajik Marutjan, a former European Championships silver-medallist, in the semifinals on Thursday.

Neeraj will be assured of an Olympic berth if he wins the next bout but in case he loses, the Indian will have another chance of qualifying for the Rio Games through the box-off between losing semifinalists. However, it was curtains for Gaurav Bidhuri (52kg) and Dilbag Singh (81kg). While Dilbag was beaten 1-2 by Moldova’s Petru Ciobanu, Gaurav lost to Ukraine’s Maksym Fatych in the opening round.

The competition has 26 Rio Quota Places on offer — three in every weight category except heavyweight (91kg) and super heavyweight (91+kg), from which only the winners will earn an Olympic spot. So far, three Indian boxers — Shiva Thapa (56kg), Manoj Kumar (64kg) and Vikas Krishan (75kg) — have booked their tickets for the Olympics through qualifiers for amateurs.