Indian boxer Nishant Dev qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games after defeating Moldova’s Vasile Cebotari in an unanimous 5-0 decision in the men’s 71kg category quarterfinal at the World Boxing Qualifiers on Friday.
He will now become the fourth Indian pugilist to qualify for the Paris Olympics after Nikhat Zareen (women’s 50kg), Preeti (54kg) and Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain (75kg) confirmed their berths by winning bronze medals at the 2022 Asian Games.
He is currently the only Indian male boxer to make it through to the Summer Games.
READ | Who is Nishant Dev, the fourth Indian boxer to qualify for Paris Olympics?
Dev, who has been dominant all tournament, was off to a flyer, landing sharp, accurate punches. The Indian was more composed and used his punches judiciously.
In the second round, Cebotari landed a couple of blows and Dev looked a bit out of breath but the Indian continued to hit accurate shots.
In the last three minutes, both boxers looked spent but Dev continued to land punches at will. Cebotari earned a point deduction for his punch to Dev when the Indian was down on the canvas.
Four Indian boxers will be in action in the evening session on Friday with all of them – Arundhati Choudhary (66kg), Amit Panghal (51kg), Sachin Siwach (57kg) and Sanjeet (92kg) – just two wins away from a Paris Olympic spot.
(With inputs from PTI)
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