Paris [France], July 31 : India boxer Preeti Pawar's hopes of bringing a medal back to the nation ended on a bitter note after Colombia's pugilist Yeni Marcela Arias Castaneda inflicted a defeat on her in the women's 54 kg round of 16.
Once again, an Indian athlete came close but fell short of securing a spot in the next round. Preeti's failed bid for a medal came down to her performance in the first round against Castaneda.
The Columbia boxer dominated Preeti, which resulted in four out of five judges handing Castaneda ten points.
Preeti made ground on Castaneda in the second round, with three tens from the judges falling in her favour after round two.
In the third and the final round, it turned out to be a closely fought affair, but the Indian pugilist fell on the wrong side of the result. She succumbed to a 2:3 defeat by split decision in a neck-to-neck battle.
Throughout Tuesday, India suffered setbacks in boxing in both men's and women's events. Philippines' Nesthy Petecio knocked India boxer Jasmine Lamboria out of the women's 57 kg round of 32 match.
Just like Preeti, the bout didn't start on an ideal note for Jaismine after she found herself trailing at the end of the first round. Four out of five judges handed ten points to the Philippines' boxer.
In the second round, Petecio continued to impose her dominance over the Indian boxer. She looked at ease throughout the second round, and at the end, all five judges handed her ten points.
In the third and final round, Jasmine needed to pull off a remarkable comeback to turn the entire bout in her favour. However, the comeback never came, and she ended up losing the match by 0:5 on points.
Amit Panghal also crashed out of the Paris Olympics following a loss in the round of 16 phase of the men's 51 kg category.
Amit lost to Zambia's Patrick Chinyemba by 1-4. In the initial rounds, Amit was highly attacking and both boxers traded punches. But in the third round, judges ruled in favour of the Zambian boxer entirely, and he won by a split decision of 1-4.
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