Kapil, Ghanghas win 5-0 to enter Asian Games quarters

Indian boxers Kapil Pokhariya and Priya Ghanghas advanced to the Asian Games quarterfinals with unanimous victories, while Jadumani Singh was knocked out. Kapil defeated Iran’s Sam Estaki 5-0, Ghanghas beat Oh Yeon-Ji 5-0 and Jadumani lost 0-3

Nagoya: Indian boxers Kapil Pokhariya (90kg) and Priya Ghanghas (60kg) advanced to the quarterfinals with impressive wins at the Asian Games here on Saturday, while Jadumani Singh (55kg) was knocked out.

Kapil, who hails from Uttarakhand, registered a 5-0 win over Iran’s Sam Estaki to enter the last eight.

Ghanghas, who won gold at last month’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, secured a unanimous 5-0 win over 2018 Asian Games champion Oh Yeon-Ji of South Korea, 36, to advance to the quarterfinals.

But Jadumani, a silver medallist at the Commonwealth Games, lost 0-3 to Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Carlo Paalam of the Philippines.

Pokhariya controlled the contest from the outset, taking a 4-1 lead in the opening round with cleaner punches despite Estaki’s height advantage.

The Indian continued to hold the upper hand in the second round, earning another unanimous 5-0 verdict from the judges.

Estaki could not mount a serious challenge in the final round as Pokhariya remained composed to complete a comfortable win.