World Championships: Ringmasters crack the whip

Tashkent, May 10

Boxers Deepak Bhoria, Mohammed Hussamuddin and Nishant Dev scripted history as they ensured India’s best-ever haul of three medals by storming into the semifinals of the IBA Men’s Boxing World Championships here today.

The quarterfinal wins mean the three will take home at least bronze each.

India’s previous best show came in 2019 when Amit Panghal clinched an unprecedented silver and Manish Kaushik grabbed bronze.

Kicking off the proceedings for India, Deepak defeated Nurzhigit Diushebaev of Kyrgyzstan by a 5-0 unanimous verdict to continue his scintillating run in the 51kg category, which will feature at the Paris Olympics.

Such was the Deepak’s domination that the referee was forced to give Diushebaev two standing counts in the latter stages of the bout.

“Our plan was to play from left and from afar. My confidence has increased since I have reached the semifinals,” Deepak said.

Fighting from a distance, Deepak looked for opportunities to land clean and accurate punches.

Trailing 0-5, Diushebaev started the second round on an aggressive note but Deepak put up a solid defence and counter-attacked with a combination of punches.

One such onslaught led the referee to give Diushebaev his first eight count.

Having taken two rounds, Deepak was more defensive in the final round. He boxed smartly, landing jabs whenever he got the opportunity.

Two-time CWG bronze medallist Hussamuddin then eked out a 4-3 split decision win in a close fight against J Diaz Ibanez of Bulgaria in the 57kg category.

“It was a tough bout because my opponent was playing really rough and it caused me some problems. Our plan was to keep moving in the ring and make my opponent work to attack and it worked perfectly as I hit a lot of side blows to gather points in the bout,” stated Hussamuddin.

Hussamuddin was involved in a messy bout that involved a lot of clinching.

The first round was fought on even keel with Hussamuddin edging past the Bulgarian fifth seed 3-2. As the seconds ticked by, he became more confident and started dominating the proceedings by landing heavy blows to take the final two rounds.

Nishant’s performance was the cherry on the cake as he knocked out Cuba’s Jorge Cuellar by a unanimous verdict in the 71kg category.

The 22-year-old, who is the reigning national champion, was relentless and kept attacking the Cuban throughout the bout. Nishant, who made a quarterfinals exit in the last edition, was determined to not repeat it. “I will take this positive mindset in the next round as well to reach the final. Securing a bronze medal at the World Championships is great but I will be back to India with a gold medal,” commented Nishant.