World Olympic Boxing Qualifier: Nishant Dev advances to quarters, gets one step closer to Paris 2024 quota

Busto Arsizio (Italy), March 11: 2023 World Championships bronze medallist Nishant Dev registered a convincing 5-0 win over Christos Karaitis of Greece to enter the men's 71kg quarter-finals at the 1st World Olympic Boxing Qualifier in Busto Arsizio, Italy.

Nishant is now just a win away from confirming his place at the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympic Games with the ongoing qualifying tournament offering quotas for all four semi-finalists in the men's event.

Continuing his dominating form, Nishant began the bout cautiously as Karaitis looked to secure some early points but not for long as the Indian found his rhythm and delivered some good combinations to secure points by using his speed to his advantage.

Nishant looked super effective on the counter attacks and picked up the pace in the closing seconds of the first round to win it comfortably.

The southpaw looked lethal right from the start of the next round. He used multiple combinations to surprise the opponent as the Greek pugilist looked clueless and even got a standing count after a left hook pierced his defense while Nishant continued to be a dominant force.

Nishant used his jabs effectively as the bout continued to be a one-sided affair in the final three minutes as well before the Haryana-born boxer completed a comfortable victory.

The 23-year-old Nishant will be up against 2021 World Championships silver medallist Omari Jones of USA in the quarter-finals later on Monday (March 11) night.

Earlier, the youth world champion Ankushita Boro (66kg) and national champion Sanjeet (92kg) suffered contrasting defeats in the opening round.

While Ankushita went down fighting 2-3 against Sonvico Emilie of France in a hard-fought match, Sanjeet lost 0-5 to Aibek Oralbay of Kazakhstan.

India have already secured four quotas for Paris Olympics Game 2024 with Nikhat Zareen (50kg), Preeti (54kg), Parveen Hooda (57kg) and Lovlina Borgohain (75kg) confirming their berths with impressive performances at the Asian Games.

Source: BFI Release