Sumit Sangwan Enters Last-16 of Boxing’s Olympic Qualifiers

Sangwan beat eighth seed Juan Carlos Carrillo of Colombia.

(Photo: Facebook)

Indian boxer Sumit Sangwan (81kg) advanced to the pre-quarterfinals of the AIBA World Olympic Qualification tournament after notching up a hard-fought win over eighth seed Juan Carlos Carrillo of Colombia.

The 23-year-old triumphed 2-1 in round of 32 contest against the world No.16, who is a former Youth Olympics silver-medallist.

Sumit boxed very intelligently. He tried to keep his opponent at long range and struck some brilliant straight punches to his body and face. As I saw it, he dominated in all the three rounds. His opponent was stout and had a powerful swing which Sumit dodged beautifully with his footwork. It was all the more good to watch because Indians generally struggle against southpaw boxers.

Gurbax Singh Sandhu, National Coach

Sumit, who is hitting his strides after recovering from a string of injuries last year, will face Mongolia’s Erdenebayar Sandagsuren in the pre-quarters on Tuesday.

However, it was heartbreak for Satish kumar (+91kg) and Amritpreet Singh (91kg) who both exited the event.

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.