Amit Panghal bows out of Boxam International in Spain

The Olympic-bound Panghal, who is also an Asian Games and Asian Championships gold-medallist, went down in a split verdict to make a surprisingly early exit from the tournament.

New Delhi: World championship silver-medallist Amit Panghal (52kg) on Thursday crashed out of Boxam International Boxing Tournament in Castellon, Spain after suffering a loss to European Games champion Gabriel Escobar in the quarterfinals.

The Olympic-bound Panghal, who is also an Asian Games and Asian Championships gold-medallist, went down in a split verdict to make a surprisingly early exit from the tournament.

Earlier, Asian champion Pooja Rani (75kg) entered the semifinals to secure a medal but two-time world bronze-winner Lovlina Borgohain (69kg) bowed out after a quarterfinal loss.

In late-night bouts on Wednesday, Olympic-bound Rani defeated Italian Assunta Canfora to join the seasoned M C Mary Kom (51kg), Simranjit Kaur (60kg) and debutant Jasmine (57kg) in the last-four stage. The three had won their quarterfinals earlier in the day.

Rani is a three-time Asian medallist and also a 2014 Asian Games bronze-winner.

However, Borgohain, who has also qualified for the Tokyo Games, lost 0-5 to Russia's Saadat Dalgatova to make a surprisingly early exit from the tournament.

Asian bronze-winner Manisha Moun (57kg) was another Indian to be ousted from contention when she was defeated 0-5 by Italian Irma Testa in the quarterfinals.

On Thursday, apart from Panghal, seven other Indian male boxers will fight it out to make the medal rounds.

The list comprises the Olympic-bound five of Manish Kaushik (63kg), Vikas Krishan (69kg), Ashish Kumar (75kg), and Satish Kumar (+91kg) along with Mohammed Hussamuddin (57kg), Sumit Sangwan (81kg) and Sanjeet (91kg).

Boxers from 17 countries, including Russia, the USA, Italy, Kazakhstan and Spain, are participating in the event.