World Championships bronze medalist Nishant Dev started his campaign at the 1st World Olympic Boxing Qualifier with an exciting 3-1 win against British boxer Lewis Richardson.
Playing in the men’s 71kg category, Nishant didn’t take much time to settle in against the Commonwealth Games bronze medalist Richardson and went into attacking mode from the word go, winning the first round 4-1. The 23-year-old Indian became even more dominant in the second round with the help of his long reach and delivered some effective right hooks to win the second round 5-0 comfortably.
He put forward a controlled performance in the third round as well and avoided multiple attacks from his opponent while trying to protect his lead and ultimately won the bout with a split decision.
The six-time Asian Championships medalist Shiva Thapa (63.5kg), however, faced a tough challenge against reigning World Champion Uzbekistan’s Ruslan Abdullaev. Ruslan, living up to his reputation with his pinpointed punches, penetrated Shiva’s defense multiple times which forced the Indian pugilist to go into a defensive mode right from the start.
The defensive approach didn’t last long as Abdullaev continued his attacking display before the referee stopped the contest in the first round.
Lakshya Chahar Exits
Meanwhile, the national champion Lakshya Chahar (80kg) also exited the competition after losing against former Asian Championships silver medalist Iran’s Gheshlaghi Meysam. After going down 2-3 in the first round, Lakshya fought back well in the second and was looking good in the final round. However, the Iranian knocked him out with just 20 seconds remaining on the clock.
The Commonwealth Games 2022 bronze medalist Jaismine (60kg) also bowed out of the competition with a 0-5 loss against Japan’s Ayaka Taguchi.
Later tonight, the youth world champion Ankushita Boro (66kg) will face Sonvico Emilie of France while the national champion Sanjeet (92kg) will square off against Aibek Oralbay of Kazakhstan.
The first World Olympic boxing qualification tournament is hosting over 590 boxers and will offer a total of 49 quotas, including 28 for men and 21 for women, at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Between 45 and 51 boxers will qualify through the second World Qualification Tournament, to be held in Bangkok from 23 May to 3 June.
India have already secured four quotas for Paris 2024 with Nikhat Zareen (50kg), Preeti (54kg), Parveen Hooda (57kg) and Lovlina Borgohain (75kg) confirming their berths with impressive performances at the Asian Games.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)