Gerlon Gilmar Congo Chala: National champion Arundhati Choudhary registered a convincing victory in 66kg weight category to reach the pre-quarter-finals while Narender Berwal (+92kg) ended up on the losing side of a 3:2 verdict in the Boxing World Qualifiers for Paris Olympics in Bangkok, Thailand, on Wednesday.
Choudhary began her campaign with a clinical Round 1 against Stephanie Pieneiro of Puerto Rico. She was slightly conservative in Round 2 as she consolidated her position before again dominating the next round to get a unanimous 5:0 verdict in her favour.
Later, Berwal put up a strong fight against Ecuador’s Gerlon Gilmar Congo Chala but it was not enough to advance to the next round.
The 2022 Asian Games bronze medallist started slow in Round 1 and was then forced to catch up. He did well to impress three of the five judges with his punches in Round 2 and 3 of the Round of 32 bout. However, his efforts were not enough to overturn the overall deficit.
In the evening session, Ankushita Boro will face Rimma Volossenko of Kazakhstan in the 60kg pre-quarters while Nishant Dev (71kg) will be up against Thailand’s Peerapat Yeasungnoen to earn a spot in the quarterfinals.