Men’s World Boxing Championships: Indian boxers continue unbeaten run, Nishant Dev enters 2nd round

Belgrade: Debutant Nishant Dev (71kg) became the seventh Indian boxer to enter the second round of the AIBA men’s World Championships with a confident 5-0 triumph over Hungary’s Laszlo Kozak in Belgrade on Wednesday. Dev will next fight Mauritian Merven Clair, who got a bye in the first round, and his victory maintained the unbeaten run of the country’s pugilists at the ongoing showpiece. However, another debutant Lakshya Chahar (86kg) lost to Korea’s Kim Hyeongkyu, a former Asian Games silver-medallist, after the bout had to be stopped in the second round. The action came to an unexpectedly early end when the Indian sustained a forehead cut that opened up despite medical attention. Chahar won the opening round 4-1 but the judges ruled in favour of the Korean after the bout was stopped. A visibly irate India High Performance Director Santiago Nieva was seen expressing his displeasure with the decision, which also left Chahar stunned. Earlier, Dev’s win was a perfect start to the day for the country after Sumit (75kg) and Narender Berwal (+92kg) advanced to the second round of their respective categories with fine victories late Tuesday night. Sumit defeated Jamaican Damon O’Neill 5-0 while Narender faced some stiff challenge from Poland’s Oskar Safaryan before recording a 4-1 win. Sumit will face Tajikistan’s Abdumalik Boltaev in the next round, while Sierra Leone’s Mohamed Kendeh awaits Berwal. Four others, including Asian medal winners Shiva Thapa (63.5kg) and Deepak Bohria (51kg), had made the second round of their categories earlier in the tournament. Later this evening, Varinder Singh will take on Karen Tonakanyan of Armenia in his 60kg opening bout. Govind Sahani (48kg) will be seen in action Wednesday night. Sahani will fight it out against Ecuador’s Billy Arias in a round of 32 contest. All three are making their debuts at the global showpiece. With more than 600 boxers from over 100 countries in the fray, a lot of competitors will have to win at least three bouts in some categories to get to the quarterfinal stage. The gold winners at the showpiece will walk away with a prize money of $100,000. The silver medallists are to be given $50,000, and both bronze-medallists will be awarded $25,000 each. The total prize purse stands at a whopping $2.6 million. India are being represented by its reigning national champions across weight categories.