Tokyo Olympians – South Korea’s three-time Asian Champion lightweight star Oh Yeon Ji

The Tokyo Olympic Games is ahead of us the re-scheduled event will be held in Japan between July 23 and August 8. The Asian Boxing Confederation introduces our quota holders firstly the women boxers who qualified already to Tokyo through the Asian & Oceanian Olympic Boxing Qualifying Event which was held in Amman, Jordan on March 2020.

South Korea’s Oh Yeon Ji was born in Incheon in August 4 in 1990 and began boxing at the age of 15 when the female part of the sport launched in the country. She trains with coaches Kim Won Chan and Na Dong Gil in the Incheon Metropolitan City Boxing Gym. Her uncle Mr. Jeon Jin Cheol was a boxer in South Korea in the past while her boxing idol is a US star, Floyd Mayweather.

She won her first elite national event at the age of 18 and competed at the 2008 edition of the ASBC Asian Women’s Boxing Championships in Guwahati, India. Oh Yeon Ji won her first ever international contest at the 2012 Strandja Memorial Tournament in Bulgaria and she repeated that at the annual AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships.

Following her next experiences in the Jeju 2014 AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships, she has done her real breakthrough in the international events in 2015. Oh defeated such high level boxers as China’s Asian Games winner Yin Junhua and DPR Korea’s Ri Tong Sun at the Wulanchabu 2015 ASBC Asian Women’s Boxing Championships and took the gold medal.

Oh was unable to qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games due to Thailand’s Tassamelee Thongjan who stopped her in both of the qualification events. The South Korean No.1 defended her Asian title in Ho Chi Minh City in 2017 where she defeated Vietnam’s Luu Thi Duyen in the final.

She defeated also all of her four opponents at the Jakarta 2018 Asian Games including Luu Thi Duyen, China’s Yang Wenlu, DPR Korea’s Choe Hye Song and Thailand’s Sudaporn Seesondee. Oh had to box in the first preliminary round of the 2018 AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships with Brazil’s star Beatriz Ferreira but she managed to win that crucial battle. She defeated two further opponents and only Thailand’s Sudaporn Seesondee stopped her in their next meeting in the semi-final of the lightweight (60kg). Oh Yeon Ji missed the 2019 AIBA and ASBC Championships due none of them were qualification competitions but she attended several other international events. She accomplished her goal in the Asian & Oceanian Olympic Boxing Qualifying Event in Amman where she was the main favourite. Oh was not seeded in Amman but defeated Tajikistan’s Shoira Zulkaynarova, Australia’s Anja Stridsman, Thailand’s Sudaporn Seesondee and India’s Simranjit Kaur Baath during her road to the gold medal.

Personal biography
Name: Oh Yeon Ji
Country : South Korea
Gender : Woman
Date of birth : 04/08/1990
Height : 168cm
Weight category : 60kg
Residence : Incheon
Stance : Orthodox
Best achievements:
2020 – Asian & Oceanian Olympic Boxing Qualifying Event (Amman, JOR) – Gold
2018 – AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships (New Delhi, IND) – Bronze
2018 – Jakarta 2018 Asian Games (Jakarta, INA) – Gold
2017 – ASBC Asian Women’s Boxing Championships (Ho Chi Minh City, VIE) – Gold
2015 – ASBC Asian Women’s Boxing Championships (Wulanchabu, CHN) – Gold
2014 – AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships (Jeju, KOR) – 5th place

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