Pooja Rani, Vikas Krishan qualify for Tokyo Olympics

Amman (Jordan): Pooja Rani (75kg) on Sunday became the first Indian boxer to secure qualification to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Later, Vikas Krishan (75kg) beat Japanese third seed Sewonrets Okazawa by unanimous decision to qualify for his third Olympics.

Rani and her Thai opponent Pomnipa Chutee got byes in the first round. Rani was dominant throughout the bout, taking the first two rounds by unanimous decisions. Her 18-year-old opponent needed a knockout in the third to go through which she never looked close to getting and Rani was declared 5-0 winner.

Vikas chose to stay defensive and draw his opponent in for much of the bout. The ploy worked well for the Commonwealth Games gold medallist as he managed to land straight punches into the body consistently. The judges in the end gave a 5-0 decision in his favour.

Sachin Kumar (81kg) however, could not get past China's Daxaing Chen and lost a close bout 3-2.