World Olympic Boxing Qualification Tournament 2024: Nishant Dev registers India’s first win; Shiva Thapa ousted
Nishant Dev beat Lewis Richardson in his opening-round bout at Busto Arsizio on Wednesday while Thapa lost to reigning world champion Ruslan Abdullaev.
World Championships bronze medallist Nishant Dev registered India’s first win at the first World Boxing Qualification Tournament for the Paris 2024 Olympics in Busto Arsizio, Italy on Wednesday.
Nishant beat Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Lewis Richardson of Great Britain by a 3-1 split decision in the opening round of the men’s 71kg category.
The Indian boxer went on the offensive from the word go to win the first two rounds by 4-1 and 5-0 margins, respectively. The 23-year-old Nishant Dev put forward a controlled performance in the third round as well and avoided multiple attacks from his opponent to ultimately win the bout.
Earlier in the day, six-time Asian Championships medallist Shiva Thapa lost to Ruslan Abdullaev of Uzbekistan, the reigning world champion, in the 63.5kg category.
Ruslan breached Shiva’s defence multiple times early on and forced the Indian to go on a defensive mode. The defensive approach didn’t last long as Abdullaev continued his attacking display before the referee stopped the contest (RSC) in the first round.
Nishant’s victory was the first win registered by an Indian boxer at the competition. Besides Thapa, Deepak Bhoria (men’s 51kg), Narender Berwal (men’s +92kg), Jaismine Lamboria (women’s 60kg) and Lakshya Chahar (men’s 80kg) all lost their opening round bouts.
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 May 23 to June 3.
India have already secured four quotas for Paris 2024 with Nikhat Zareen (50kg), Preeti Pawar (54kg), Parveen Hooda (57kg) and Lovlina Borgohain (75kg) confirming their berths at the Asian Games last year.