Men’s World Boxing Championships: Deepak, Nishant enter quarter-finals; Akash, Sachin bow out

Deepak controlled the bout right from the start and ended up winning it by a 5-0 unanimous decision

Tashkent: India’s Deepak Bhoria (51kg) and Nishant Dev (71kg) continued their scintillating forms at the ongoing IBA Men’s World Boxing Championships as they stormed into the quarter-finals of the tournament with dominating victories, here on Tuesday.

However, Akash Sangwan (67 kg) and Sachin Siwach (54kg) bowed out of the tournament after facing defeats in their respective pre-quarterfinal matches.

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Akash went down 0-5 against Kazakhstan’s Dulat Bekbauov. The Indian pugilist had a slow start and grew into the game with every round but in the end, it wasn’t enough for the judges to give decisions in his favour as Bekbauov registered a unanimous 5-0 win.

On the other hand, Sachin also suffered a 0-5 defeat in his round of 16 bout. Going against top seed Kazakhstan’s Makhmud Sabyrkhan, Sachin started brightly as he landed heavy punches on his opponent in the first round. After an even second round, the bout went down to the wire in the last round where Sabyrkhan showed his experience to get the better of the Indian boxer and won the bout.

Earlier, playing against Jiamao Zhang of China in the pre-quarterfinal, Deepak controlled the bout right from the start and ended up winning it by a 5-0 unanimous decision.

Deepak had a measure of his opponent and called the shots in the first round with his Swift movement and accurate punches. He went into defensive mode at the start of the second round and used his counter-attacking game to strike some heavy left hooks on his opponent.

In the third round, Deepak was on his toes as Zhang tried to be more aggressive with a combination of punches. However, the Indian pugilist was too quick for his rival and comfortably won the bout.

“My strategy was to use my strongest weapon in the match which is my left hook and everything went according to our plan in the match. I tried to get the momentum early in the bout and lure my opponent before striking some accurate punches. My focus is on the next bout now and I will give my 100 percent in it to ensure a medal for India,” said Deepak after the victory.

He will now play his next bout against Diushebaev Nurzhigit of Kyrgyzstan and will look to confirm a medal for India.

On the other hand, Nishant Dev registered a win by RSC in the first round against Nidal Foqahaa of Palestine. Foqahaa used his height advantage to put Nishant Dev in the corner before the Indian pugilist used a combination of heavy punches on his opponent which forced the referee to stop the contest.

Nishant Dev will face Jorge Cuellar Of Cuba in the quarter-finals on Wednesday. The third Indian to play in the quarter-finals is Hussamuddin, who will go up against J. Diaz Ibanez of Bulgaria.

The ongoing tournament is witnessing the participation of 538 boxers, including several Olympic medallists, from 107 countries.