Amman (Jordan): World bronze-medallist Manish Kaushik (63kg) Wednesday became the ninth Indian boxer to qualify for Tokyo Olympics after beating Australia’s Harrison Garside in a brutal box-off at the Asian Qualifiers here.
Kaushik defeated the Commonwealth Games champion and second seed Garside 4-1 to book his maiden ticket to the quadrennial showpiece after a draining showdown which saw the Australian fighting with a bloodied face and the Indian braving some painful hits to his ribs.
It was a repeat of the 2018 CWG final, only this time Kaushik ended up on the winning side.
The top six in the 63kg category were entitled to Olympic berths in the ongoing event. Both Kaushik and Garside had lost in the quarterfinals.
Earlier, Olympic-bound Commonwealth Games champion Vikas Krishan (69kg) signed off with a silver medal after an eye injury forced him to pull out of the final.
Krishan, a world and Asian medallist, was to take on Jordan’s Zeyad Eashash in the summit clash.
“He will not compete because of the cut. He has been told by the doctors to pull out,” a source close to the boxer said.
He defeated second seed Ablaikhan Zhussupov of Kazakhstan, a two-time world bronze-medallist, in the semifinals on Tuesday. He sustained a cut on his left eyelid in the second round of the bout before claiming a split decision victory.
The other Indians to have qualified for the Olympics are M C Mary Kom (51kg), Simranjit Kaur (60kg), Lovlina Borgohain (69kg), Pooja Rani (75kg), Amit Panghal (52kg), Ashish Kumar (75kg) and Satish Kumar (+91kg).
PTI