Indian boxer Pooja Rani lost to China’s Li Qian in the 75kg quarterfinal at the Tokyo Olympics on Saturday. The Indian was thoroughly outclassed by Qian, a former world and Asian champion. 

Rani looked clueless in the ring after showing some spark in the opening round. Qian was ruthless in her counter-hitting every time the debutante Indian tried to launch an offensive, striking straight and clean to assert her dominance.

Even the waiting game didn’t work for Rani, whose fragile defence was easily penetrated by the top-class Chinese boxer, who is now assured of her second Olympic medal.

Qian is assured of a medal at Tokyo Olympics now. In the 2016 Rio Olympics, the Chinese athlete had won a bronze medal. 

Earlier on Saturday, star Indian boxer Amit Panghal (52kg) bowed out of the Olympics with a stunning 1-4 loss to Rio Games silver-medallist Yuberjen Martinez.

One of India’s strongest medal contenders, Panghal was put under pressure by the sprightly Colombian in the opening round itself but the pre-bout favourite ensured that he connected better to claim the first three minutes 4-1.

“They have sparred with each other. In some of them Amit was better than today but in others, it was similar to what happened today. It wasn’t a total surprise because we had seen that this guy is very dangerous,” Indian Boxing’s High Performance Director Santiago Nieva said after the bout.

Martinez’s pace should have set alarm bells ringing in the Indian corner despite Panghal bagging the first round because the Pan-American champion upped the ante in the second round, working relentlessly on Panghal’s body with his uppercuts.

Panghal found it tough to respond and Martinez’s persistence brought him level with the top star.

On Friday, Lovlina Borgohain (69kg) became the first Indian boxer to secure a medal at the ongoing Games after advancing to the semifinals. She defeated former world champion Nien-Chin Chen of Chinese Taipei in her quarterfinal bout.