India’s Deepak, Hussamuddin, Nishant eye summit berths

Deepak Bhoria (left), Mohammed Hussamuddin & Nishant Dev (right)

India would be aiming to better their best-ever show when the trio of Deepak Bhoria, Mohammed Hussamuddin and Nishant Dev step inside the ring against tough opponents in pursuit of summit berths in the men's boxing World Championships here on Friday. The fact that all three medals have come in Olympic 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 semi-finalists at the marquee event for amateur boxers and in that respect, the three boxers have already scripted history. In 2019, Amit Panghal became the first Indian male boxer to reach the final, which was a gigantic step forward for the sport in the country and now Deepak, Hussamuddin and Nishant have the chance to take it forward.

The task, however, is easier said than done. All three of them have tough opponents standing in their path to the final. Deepak (51kg) has in his way 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), on the other hand, will go up against Cuba's Saidel Horta, who knocked out Worlds and Asian Championships silver medallist, top seed Serik Temirzhanov of Kazakhstan in the quarter-finals.

Nishant (71kg) will face 2022 Asian Champion and 2018 Asian Games silver medallist Aslanbek Shymbergenov of Kazakhstan. It is a chance for Deepak to either replicate or better the silver-winning feat of former World No. 1 Panghal, who has been the first choice in this weight category for long.

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