It was a challenging day for the Aussies, with all three athletes bowing out of the competition in their respective weight divisions. 

First up in the Men’s 51kg preliminary round of 16, Yusuf Chothia faced Rafael Lozana Serrano (ESP). The Olympic debutant put in a great effort, taking a winning point from round one.  

But despite the early form, Yusuf faded in the second and third with the judges awarding the final round to the Spaniard. 

“I thought I got the decision. I thought I won the first and the third, but it's not up to me to judge,” Yusuf said.

“I just gotta go there and box and leave it to the judges. That’s boxing. You know, the good and the bad we take as it comes and we move on.” 

“I'll get back to the drawing board and keep moving forward. You know, I'm still young. I'm 23 years old. I got a couple more Olympics in me. So just pick my hat up and keep moving forward,” he said.

Up next was teammate Callum Peters in the Men’s 80kg preliminary round of 16, up against Nurbek Oralbay of Kazakhstan. 

It was a close fight from round one, the judges looking favourably on the 21-year-old Australian’s performance and awarding winning points early in the round. 

But Oralbay wasn’t going to go down easily and fought back, the bout ending with the score 3:2 in favour of Oralbay in a judges’ split decision.

“I felt strong, I felt good. I thought I did enough in that last round,” Callum said. 

“I thought I had enough clean shots. You can only learn from these experiences and get better.

“In that second round I thought I had a chance. He was struggling a bit, then in the third he was holding me a bit but, that’s boxing. He got in some hard shots but it’s a hard sport and you keep going.”

The final Australian in the ring for the day was Tiana Echegaray in the Women’s -54kg preliminary round of 16.

The 30-year-old is making her Olympic debut in Paris, and came out swinging from the first bell, looking to secure points from the judges early. It was not on the Aussie’s day however, as she struggled against the quick feet of her Turkish opponent Hatice Akbas. 

Tiana was proud of her efforts, taking the challenge up one of the best in the sport. 

“Hatice was very good. There is no shame in losing to a very skilled opponent,” Tiana said.

“To be the best, you need to beat the best. Anytime I fight someone incredibly skilled it makes me realise I have so much more to learn and it's a learning curve in the sport of boxing and that’s what I love about it. It’s so challenging.

“I didn’t grow up dreaming about the Olympics. I started late so to just make it here is a tremendous feat. I’m proud of what I’ve done, to be representing myself, my family, my coaches, my gym, is an honour.”

Australia still has exciting talent left in competition with Shannan Davey, Caitlin Parker and Charlie Senior all in the ring for the first fights on 31 July.

Shannon Knaus