Nishant confirms Paris 2024 Olympics ticket, bags India's first men's boxing quota
Nishant, 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
Nishant Dev with his ticket to Paris after his win on Friday
CHENNAI: 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 semi-finals of the 71kg category of the Boxing World Qualifiers at Bangkok, Thailand, on Friday.
Nishant, 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 the Round 2 and 3 but the experience of Nishant shone bright as he mixed caution with aggression and landed a few hooks and uppercuts to earn a unanimous verdict.
India had 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.
