Chandra Bahadur Thapa Magar is Nepal’s most promising boxer. Last year, he won a bronze in the IBA Men’s World Boxing Championship. He was then ranked third in the world in the elite men’s bantamweight category (51-54kg) by the International Boxing Association (IBA).

Magar was hence one of Nepal’s more bankable athletes at the ongoing Asian Games. The hopes were so high. Magar was even a flag bearer for Nepal in the opening ceremony in Nagoya, Japan, on Saturday.

Magar’s Asian Games run, however, ended in a rather anticlimactic fashion on Tuesday afternoon. He lost his opening bout in the men’s 55kg preliminaries to India’s Jadumani Singh Mandengbam by unanimous decision at Nishio Gymnasium.

The five judges—from Morocco, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Argentina and Lithuania—scored in favour of Mandengbam, who won 5-0. The five judges scored 30-27, 29-28, 29-28, 30-27 and 30-27 in favour of the Indian boxer.

The three-round fight, each of three minutes, did not see any of the fighters deliver a devastating blow. The punches were thrown from both ends, but none made good contact.

Magar was given a knockdown when he fell after being pushed by Mandengbam in the third round.

It was Nepal’s second loss in boxing in the tournament on Tuesday.

Ramisha Shrestha also lost by unanimous decision (0-5) against Vietnam’s Thi Tham Nguyen in the women’s 51kg preliminaries.

On Monday, Dan Bahadur Darlami lost to Iraq’s Ali Qasim Hamdan Al-Sarray in the men’s 70kg preliminaries—also by unanimous decision.

Boxing and taekwondo had won four bronze medals each and opened Nepal’s medal tally at the Asian Games from the 10th edition in Seoul, South Korea, in 1986.

After that, boxing won a bronze in Beijing, China, in 1990 and Guangzhou, China, in 2010. It has been four editions in 16 years that Nepal has failed to win a medal in boxing.

However, despite the losses of Magar, Shrestha and Darlami, Nepal’s boxing is yet far from seeing its medal chances end completely in Japan.

Seven Nepali boxers are competing in the 20th Asian Games, and three of them have lost until Tuesday.

Khagendra Roka Magar is fighting Macau’s Alvin John Reyes Salinas in the men’s 60kg preliminaries on Wednesday. On Thursday, Kusum Tamang will share the ring against China’s Shu Li in the women’s 65kg preliminaries.

Likewise, Rabin Nepal will face Thailand’s Jakkapong Yomkhot in the men’s 90kg preliminaries on Saturday. Asmita Duwal is also competing in the women’s 54kg.