Amit Panghal’s campaign at the Paris Olympics mirrored his experience at the Tokyo Games as the seasoned boxer once again made a pre-quarterfinals exit while debutants Jaismine Lamboria and Preeti Pawar were also ousted here on Tuesday.
The-28-year-old Panghal suffered a shock 1-4 split verdict loss to Zambia’s Patrick Chinyemba, an opponent he had defeated en-route his Commonwealth Games title in 2022, in the 51kg Round of 16 bout.
Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Lamboria’s maiden Olympic campaign also went up in smoke as she went down by a 0-5 unanimous decision to Tokyo silver medallist Nesthy Petecio of Phillipines in the 57kg Round of 32 bout.
But the performance of the day belonged to Preeti, who went down by a 2-3 split verdict despite putting up a fearless display in her 54 kg pre-quarterfinal bout against reigning the Pan American Games champion and world silver medallist Yeni Marcela Arias Colombia.
After losing the first round 1-4, the 20-year-old Asian Games bronze medallist made an impressive comeback. She used her height advantage to elude the Colombian’s punches while connecting some jabs but her late flourish wasn’t enough to impress all judges as the experienced Arias took a narrow win.
Like the Tokyo Olympics, Panghal, who qualified for the ongoing Games in the last qualifier, got an opening round bye here as well.
The 2019 world championship silver medallist was put under pressure by the sprightly Zambian, the reigning African Games champion, in the opening round itself.
But the Indian paid the price for his defensive approach as the third seeded Chinyemba assumed the role of the aggressor.
Panghal, who found it tough to respond to the 23-year-old’s persistence, failed to counter-attack in the bout. He struggled with his footwork and looked a pale shadow of his sharp self in the underwhelming outing.
Trailing on three cards after the opening three minutes, Panghal attacked from the get go in the second round but had trouble connecting punches as Chinyemba edged him out.
Both boxers were involved in big exchanges with Panghal trying to apply pressure in the final three minutes but Chinyemba made sure that there was no let up in the intensity and took the win.
Panghal, who had been away from the national team since his Tokyo exit, selected for the final Olympic qualifying event after Deepak Bhoria failed to earn a quota in the previous two qualifiers.
Handed a favourable draw, the former Asian Games champion was expected to reach the medal round.
Lamboria was simply no match to the veteran Filipina. The 22-year-old never looked comfortable in the bout as she was too slow for the 57kg weight class.
She had dropped down from her original 60kg weight class to reclaim the 57kg quota for India, which had to be forfeited after holder Parveen Hooda was suspended for a whereabouts failure last month.
Despite a considerable height advantage, Lamboria was unable to connect most of her punches as the Filipina, a former world champion, moved around the ring and expertly ducked the Indian’s attacks, while peppering her with punches.
