PARIS, July 27 (Xinhua) -- The preliminaries of boxing events at the 2024 Paris Olympics Games kicked off at the North Paris Arena on Saturday with 36 boxers, mainly Olympic first timers, fighting for 18 seats for the next round.
Indian boxer Preeti, the bronze medalist of Hangzhou Asian Games last year, cruised past her Vietnamese rival Thi Kim Anh Vo with a 5-0 victory.
"In the first round, I wanted to check her range and make her fight in my range, but I ended up losing the first round by split decision," said the 20-year-old Preeti, who then changed her strategy. "I needed to pressure her more and in the second and third rounds I forced her to make backward steps and I went forward a lot more."
In the other match, although Tonga's Feofaaki Epenisa lost to Thi Linh Ha of Vietnam in the women's 60kg round of 32, she took pride in herself as the first female boxer from her country.
"This is so exciting. I do not have to be the first woman from Tonga to win a medal even though I would love to. But hopefully this inspires someone to say 'Hey, I am going to hop on the wagon'," said the 28-year-old Tongan.
Sunday will see the appearance of Julio Cesar La Cruz Peraza, Cuba's two-time Olympic medalist, to fight against Azerbaijan boxer Loren Berto Alfonso Dominguez in the men's 92kg event.
Han Xuezhen of China will make his Olympic debut as the eighth seed in the same group.
Female boxers of China will start their competitions from next Monday. Since London 2012, China has topped the women's boxing medal tally with seven Olympic medals, but has yet to claim a gold.
A total of 249 boxers will compete across 13 different weight categories at Paris 2024. From July 27 to August 2, the event will take place in the North Paris Arena, while from August 6 to 10, the matches will be played at Roland Garros, home of the French Open, as a way to attract more audience.
