Nishant Dev becomes first man to secure Paris 2024 Olympics boxing quota for India
Nishant’s quota was the fourth in boxing for India. Amit Panghal and Sachin Siwach also won their respective bouts.
India’s Nishant Dev secured a Paris 2024 Olympic quota for India in the men’s 71kg category after making the semi-finals at the World Olympic Boxing Qualification Tournament in Bangkok, Thailand on Friday.
This is India’s fourth quota in boxing for the Paris 2024 Summer Games but the first in a men’s category. Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain (women's 75kg), two-time world champion Nikhat Zareen (women's 50kg) and Preeti Pawar (women's 54kg) had secured the other three from the Asian Games in Hangzhou last year.
However, as National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024.
Nishant, who fell one win short of securing a quota from the first World Boxing Qualification Tournament held in Italy’s Busto Arsizio back in March, ensured there was no heartbreak in Bangkok after blanking Moldova’s Vasile Cebotari 5-0 via unanimous decision in the quarter-finals.
At the Thailand meet, three quotas are up for grabs in the women's 60kg, men's 57kg and men's 80kg divisions. The men's 63.5kg and 71kg divisions each have five quotas on offer while the remaining nine categories have four each.
An entry in the semi-finals, hence, was enough for Nishant, a bronze medallist from the 2023 World Championships, to confirm the quota spot for his country.
Indian boxers Sachin Siwach (57kg), Sanjeet Kumar (92kg) and Amit Panghal (51kg) also moved within one win of securing a quota.
Panghal defeated the Republic of Korea’s Kim In-Kyu 5-0 by unanimous decision to storm into the quarter-finals of his category. Siwach, meanwhile, continued his winning run and outpunched Frenchman Samuel Kistohurry 4-1 to enter the semis.
Earlier in the day, Ankushita Boro bowed out of the Paris 2024 Olympic quota race after suffering a narrow 3-2 defeat to Sweden's Agnes Alexiusson in the women’s 60kg quarter-finals.
Arundhati Choudhary (women’s 66kg) was also knocked out in the pre-quarterfinals following a 4-1 defeat at the hands of Slovak boxer Jessica Triebelova. Sanjeet Kumar’s quest for a quota in men’s 92kg also fizzled out after a defeat to Azerbaijan's Loren Berto Alfonso in the round of 16.