Busto Arsizio (Italy), March 6: World Championships bronze medallist Nishant Dev gave India its first win at the 1st World Olympic Boxing Qualifier, defeating Britain’s Lewis Richardson by a 3-1 split decision in the men’s 71kg category here.
Nishant was aggressive right from the word go against the 2022 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist, and won the first round of his bout 4-1 on Tuesday.
The 23-year-old Indian became even more dominant in the second round using his long reach and delivered some effective right hooks to comfortably win 5-0.
He put forward a controlled performance in the third round as well and avoided multiple attacks from his opponent while trying to protect his lead and ultimately won the round of 64 bout by a split decision.
Six-time Asian Championships medallist Shiva Thapa (63.5kg), suffered a first-round loss via RSC to reigning World Champion Ruslan Abdullaev of Uzbekistan.
Living up to his reputation with his pinpointed punches, Abdullaev penetrated Thapa’s defence multiple times which forced the Indian pugilist to go into defensive mode right from the start.
However, the defensive approach didn’t last long as Abdullaev continued his onslaught, landing powerful punches. Thapa received two standing counts within the span of 20 seconds before the referee stopped the contest.
Youth would champion Ankushita Boro was out-punched 2-3 by Sonvico Emilie of France in the women’ 66kg as India’s dismal run at the Olympic qualifiers continued.
Six of the nine Indian boxers have made first-round exits from the tournament so far. (PTI)
