India trio eyes final berth in World Boxing

TASHKENT: India will aim to better its best-ever show when the trio of Deepak Bhoria, Mohammad Hussamuddin and Nishant Dev take to the ring in the semi-finals of the IBA Men’s Boxing World Championships here on Friday.

The fact that all three medals – they are assured of at least bronze – have come in Olympic categories augers well for India heading into the Asian Games, which is the first qualifying event for the 2024 Paris Olympics. The India troika have tough opponents standing in their path to the Worlds final.

Deepak (51kg) will be up against two-time World Championships medallist Billal Bennama. Deepak can replicate or better the silver-winning feat of former World No.1 Amit Panghal, who had been India’s first-choice in the weight category for long. Having won two bronze medals, Frenchman Bennama, who is also the 2022 European champion, will be eager to get past the last-four hurdle.

Hussamuddin (57kg) will face Cuba’s Saidel Horta, who knocked out World and Asian Championships silver medallist and top seed Serik Temirzhanov of Kazakhstan in the quarter-finals.

Nishant (71kg) will battle it out against 2022 Asian champion and 2018 Asian Games silver medallist Aslanbek Shymbergenov of Kazakhstan. With bronze in their pockets, the pugilists will aspire to change the shade of the medals.

In the past, India had never won more than a silver and bronze each in a single edition of the Men’s World Championships.