Manish Kaushik

World Championships bronze medal winner Manish Kaushik is among nine Indian boxers who will be battling it out at the Tokyo Olympics. After winning a brutal box-off at the Asian Olympic qualifiers to reach the quadrennial event, Kaushik will be looking to improve upon his performance at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, where he won the silver medal. Kaushik had sealed his qualification for the Tokyo Olympics in March 2020, but was kept waiting with the Games postponed by a year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The 25-year-old beat Commonwealth Games champion and second seed Harrison Garside 4-1 to make the cut for Tokyo 2020 in the men's 63kg category.

While Kaushik was out of practice for almost a year, he returned to action with a gold medal at the Boxam International Tournament in Spain.

Manish defeated Denmark's Nikolai Terteryan in a split decision at the event in Spain's Castellon.

The Haryana lad will be looking to push on and add another feather to his cap with a medal at his first appearance at the Olympic Games.

In the 2018 Commonwealth Games, Kaushik stormed into the final, beating the likes of England's Callum French and Northern Ireland's James McGivern.

However, he was denied the gold medal as he went down to Australian Garside 3-2 in the final clash.

He followed up his impressive show in the Commonwealth Games with a bronze medal at the Boxing World Championships in 2019.

Accompanied by the likes of the legendary MC Mary Kom and Amit Panghal, Kaushik will be looking to make the country proud in the ring once the Games get underway.