Deepak, Hussamuddin and Nishant ready for final push

Tashkent, May 11

India would be aiming to better their best-ever show when the trio of Deepak Bhoria, Mohammad Hussamuddin and Nishant Dev step inside the ring against tough opponents in pursuit of final berths in the men’s boxing World Championships here tomorrow.

The fact that all three medals have come in Olympics categories augers well for India heading into the Asian Games, which is the first qualifying event for the Paris Olympics.

India have never had three semifinalists at the marquee event. In 2019, Amit Panghal became the first Indian male boxer to reach the final.

Deepak (51kg) will next face two-time World Championships medallist Bilala Bennama. The Frenchman, who is also the 2022 European champion, will be eager to change the shade of his two bronze medals.

Hussamuddin (57kg) will go up against Cuba’s Saidel Horta, who knocked out World Championships silver medallist and top seed Serik Temirzhanov of Kazakhstan in the quarterfinals. Nishant (71kg) will face 2022 Asian Championships gold winner and 2018 Asiad silver medallist Aslanbek Shymbergenov of Kazakhstan.