Ashish Kumar (75kg) defeated Maikhel Muskita of Indonesia 5-0 to book his place in the Olympic Games 2020.
Earlier, Asian Championships gold medallist Pooja Rani (75kg), two-time World Championships bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain (69kg) and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Vikas Krishan (69kg) became the first three Indian boxers to seal their places at the Tokyo Olympics as they entered the semi-finals of the Asian/Oceania Olympic Qualifiers on Sunday.
Krishan had to dig deep and show his resolve in a tough bout against the third seed and Asian Championships silver medallist Sewonrets Okazawa of Japan, whom he eventually beat 5-0. The fourth-seeded Pooja Rani, meanwhile, had it easy as she ran away to a commanding 5-0 win over Thailand's Pornnipa Chutee.
Later in the day, the second seed in women's 69kg, Lovlina Borgohain sealed her maiden Olympic spot and a semi-final berth at this event with a fabulous show of aggression that gave her a flawless 5-0 victory over Uzbek boxer Maftunakhon Melieva.
The only disappointment for India in the first session of the first quarter-final day was the tight 2-3 loss suffered by Sachin Kumar in 81kg against the experienced Daxaing Chen of China. His Olympic dreams are still not over yet as in the 81 kg category, 5 boxers will qualify and Sachin will get yet another chance with a box-off opportunity; where the losing quarterfinalist players will have yet another shot.
The Asian Zone Olympic Qualifiers is going on at the moment in Amman, the capital city of Jordan. The Indian boxers have so far shown how well they have prepared for the event. A few more Indian boxers will be seen in actions and few more quota places can be secured.
(with inputs from PTI)