PARIS: Boxers from Britain and Ireland once again suffered defeats as Rosie Eccles and Aidan Walsh were eliminated from the Paris Olympics on Sunday, while India's Nikhat Zareen marked her Games debut with a dominant win over Maxi Kloetzer.
Following Dean Clancy and Charley Davison's losses on day one of action at the North Paris Arena on Saturday, Walsh was first outdone by Frenchman Traore Makan, before Eccles was beaten by Poland's Aneta Rygielska.
There was little doubt over the result in Walsh's light middleweight defeat, but the welterweight bout between Eccles and Rygielska was much closer, with the decision split 3-2 in the Pole's favour.
The pair battered each other with blows in a brutal fight, with Rygielska also receiving a deduction for not keeping her head up.
"I knew I'd won the fight. So, I'm really, really shocked and back then she also had points taken off," Eccles said through tears.
"I've given my whole life for a gold medal in the Olympics, or at least an Olympic medal to take home. I really would have been proud of that.
"Unfortunately for me, it just wasn't meant to be. And my poor teammate Charley yesterday as well, she experienced the same thing. So yeah, both of us not had a great time, eh?"
Rygielska said it was an even fight, but added: "I knew that my boxing was better."
Indian boxer Zareen, who has big shoes to fill as a successor to six-times world champion MC Mary Kom in the flyweight division, had a poor first round but bounced back to subdue German opponent Kloetzer and clinch a unanimous win.
She next faces top seed and defending Asian Games and world champion Wu Yu in the round of 16.
Also in the flyweight division, Colombia's Ingrit Valencia, a Rio Olympics 2016 bronze medallist, eased to a win over Mongolia's Oyuntsetsegiin Yesugen, while American men's flyweight boxer Roscoe Hill defeated the refugee Olympic team's Omid Ahmadisafa. - Reuters