Boxing World Qualifiers: Clinical Nishant Dev seals Paris Olympic quota, Ankushita Boro misses out

New Delhi: Nishant Dev became the fourth Indian and first male boxer to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics after he convincingly got the better of Moldova’s Vasile Cebotari 5-0 to reach the semifinals of the 71kg category at the 2nd Boxing World Qualifiers at Bangkok, Thailand, on Friday.

Dev, who had missed out on the Paris Olympic berth in the 1st Qualifier in Italy after going down to 2021 world championships silver medallist Omari Jones of USA at the same stage, was determined not to lose out this time around as he took control of Round 1 with a combination of a right-hand jab and a left-handed hook.

Cebotari did put up a fight in Rounds 2 and 3 but the experience of Dev shone bright as he mixed caution with aggression and landed a few hooks and uppercuts to earn a unanimous verdict.

India have already secured three quotas for the Paris Games with Nikhat Zareen (women’s 50kg), Preeti (54kg), and Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain (75kg) confirming their berths by winning bronze medals at the 2022 Asian Games.

However, it was the end of the road for former World Youth Champion Ankushita Boro in the 60kg quarterfinals as she was unlucky to go down 3-2 against 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 three of the five judges to rule in her favour.

Four Indian boxers will be in action in the evening session on Friday with all of them -– Arundhati Choudhary (66kg), Amit Panghal (51kg), Sachin Siwach (57kg), and Sanjeet (92kg) – just two wins away from a Paris Olympic spot.