India’s Manish Kaushik crashed out of the Tokyo Olympics after Great Britain’s Luke McCormack defeated him in Men’s lightweight (63 kg) boxing round of 32.

Manish, a Commonwealth Games silver-medallist and a world championship bronze-winner, went down 1-4. He lost the battle in the final three minutes when the Briton decided to counter-attack instead of being on the offensive.

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In India’s other boxing bout, Magnificient Mary powered into the Olympics’ pre-quarterfinals with a superb tactical victory over Dominican Republic’s Miguelina Hernandez Garcia. The 2012 Olympic bronze-medallist and a multiple-time Asian champion, prevailed 4-1 against a rival who is 15 years her junior and a Pan American Games bronze-medallist.

“It has been very painful, the last couple of years, for everybody because of the pandemic and everything shut down. We are all suffering the same problem and every athlete has to train at home, but for us boxers, we need a training partner,” Mary Kom said in the mixed zone after her triumph.

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“I am so lucky, I could set up a little gym with equipment and a bag, but the only thing missing was a sparring partner which is the most important for the eye contact and everything,” she added about the challenges building up to the Games amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Luke is the twin brother of Pat McCormack, a former European and Commonwealth Games champion besides being a world championship silver-medallist in the welterweight (69kg) category. Pat is also competing in the ongoing Games and has got a bye into the last 16 stage.

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On Monday, another Games debutant Ashish Kumar (75kg) will open his campaign against China’s Erbieke Touheta.

A total of nine Indian boxers had qualified for the Games, of which two — Vikas Krishan (69kg) and Manish — have now bowed out after first-round losses.