Boxer Nishant Dev qualifies for 2024 Paris Olympics; Ankushita Boro misses the cut

Indian boxer Nishant Dev became the fourth boxer and the first male boxer to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics. Dev qualified for the Summer Games after beating Moldova’s Vasile Cebotari in the quarterfinals of the men’s 71 kg category at the World Boxing Qualifiers.

Nikhat Zareen (women’s 50kg), Preeti (women’s 54kg) and Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain (women’s 75kg) are the pugilists who have qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics. The trio qualified after winning bronze medals at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou.

However, former world youth champion Ankushita Boro came up short when it mattered and lost in the quarterfinals to lose out on an Olympic qualification.

Dev started on an aggressive note and landed sharp, accurate punches on Cebotari. When he was challenged, he used his composure and made sure his opponent did not get an upper hand.

Cebotari tried to pull things back in his favour in the second round when he landed accurate punches on Dev but the Indian too responded in the same manner. Although he was caught being out of breath on a couple of occasions, Dev didn’t lose the game plan.

In the last three minutes of the contest, Dev continued to land punches at will and Cebotari earned a point deduction for his punch when the Indian was down on the canvas.

In the end, it was a 5-0 unanimous decision in favour of Dev that also earned him a ticket to the Olympics.

In the women’s 60kg quarterfinals, Boro lost the plot as she went down 2-3 to Sweden’s Agnes Alexiusson.

Boro was slow off the blocks and that allowed her Swedish opponent to take control. But the Indian fought back in Round 2 and looked on course to reverse the deficit as she earned a 4-1 verdict for the round.

She continued to attack the Swede in the final round but Alexiusson landed a few punches of her own at the right time to convince the three of the five judges to rule in her favour.