Bulgarian national champion

Boxing World Qualifiers: National championships bronze medallist Abhimanyu Loura displayed his daunting attitude to pack off Bulgaria’s Kristiyan Nikolov in a thrilling first-round clash in the 80kg category in the 2nd Boxing World Qualifiers for the Paris Olympics in Bangkok on Saturday.

Loura started slow as the 10-time Bulgarian National Champion took an upper hand in the opening round.

But the 21-year-old Indian quickly switched gears and went on the offensive in the second round and earned the bragging rights for the round with four of the five judges voting in favour of him. The Indian continued the flurry of punches in the third and final round too, to finally clinch the bout 3-0 and ensure two wins out of two for the Indian contingent in Bangkok.