Deepak, Nishant storm into World C’ships QFs

TASHKENT: Indian boxers Deepak Bhoria (51kg) and Nishant Dev (71kg) produced dominating performances to cruise to the quarterfinals of the men’s World Championships here on Tuesday.

Continuing his good run in the tournament, Deepak brushed aside China’s Zhangh Jiamao by a 5-0 unanimous verdict in the 51kg round of 16 bout.

Nishant, on the other hand, hardly broke a sweat as he registered a first-round RSC (referee stops the contest) win against Palestine’s Foqahaa Nidal in his 71kg last 16 contest.

The two along with Mohammed Hussamuddin (57kg), who will go up against J Diaz Ibanez of Bulgaria in the quarterfinals, are one win away from securing medals.

Such was Nishant’s domination that he spent less than a minute in the ring before being declared the winner.

The Indian southpaw resorted to body blows before striking Nidal with a powerful right hook that compelled the referee to give the Palestinian his first standing count.

A few seconds later Nishant unleashed a combination of left-right-left hooks as Nidal fell on the canvas, forcing the referee to give him his second count before stopping the contest.

Nishant will face Jorge Cuellar of Cuba in the quarterfinals.

Competing in the 51kg Olympic category, Deepak put up a brilliant display once again.

While the first round was neck and neck, with both boxers exchanging blows, the 25-year-old Indian managed to take a slender 3-2 lead.

He went into defensive mode at the start of the second round and used his counter-attacking game to strike some heavy left hooks on his opponent.

The Haryana boxer then ramped up the tempo in final three minutes. He used his nimble foot to move around the ring, landing a combination of punches while also ducking away from his opponent’s attacks rather effortlessly.

“My strategy was to use my strongest weapon in the match which is my left hook and everything went according to plan in the match.

“I tried to get the momentum early in the bout and lure my opponent before striking some accurate punches,” Deepak said after the victory.

On Sunday, Deepak pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the tournament when he upstaged Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist and 2021 world champion Saken Bibossinov of Kazakhstan.

Deepak was selected ahead of World Championship silver medallist Amit Panghal and the 25-year-old has put up impressive performances in all the three bouts he has played so far.

He will now play his next bout against Diushebaev Nurzhigit of Kyrgyzstan.