Nishant, Deepak, Sumit, and Narender maintain India’s winning streak at the World Boxing Championships

Harpal Singh Bedi

Indian boxer Narender celebrates his +92kg opening round win against Polish opponent Oskar Safaryan at the 2021 AIBA World Boxing Championships on Tuesday night

New Delhi: Nishant Dev, Deepak Bhoria, Sumit and Narender put up brilliant performances to progress into the second round of the AIBA Boxing Championships in Belgrade, Serbia on Wednesday.

Making their debut in this event, the Karnataka boxer Nishant Dev displayed good form against Laszlo Kozak in the 71 kg category as he hit the aggressive mode from the word go.

The 20-year-old reigning national champion dominated his opponent from Hungary with fluent attack and sharp punches before winning the bout comprehensively by unanimous margin.

In the Last-32 stage, Nishant will be up against Mauritian pugilist Merven Clair, who finished in the quarter-finals at the Tokyo Olympics, on Friday.

Deepak Bhoria, Sumit and Narender also started their campaign with commanding victories.

Deepak produced a flawless show in the 51kg opening round match against one of the strong contenders for the title, Azat Usenaliev of Kyrgyzstan.

Despite some resistance from the Asian champion Usenaliev, the 24-year-old Indian managed to secure a 5-0 victory.

Sumit too was equally dominant during his 75kg opening round match against Jamaican boxer O’Neill Damon as he notched up an easy 5-0 win.
On the other hand, Narender faced some stiff challenges from his Polish opponent Oskar Safaryan in the +92kg bout, however, the Indian recorded a convincing 4-1 win.

This came after seasoned boxer Shiva Thapa’s 5-0 victory against Kenya’s Victor Nyadera in the 63.5kg round-of-64 match which set the tone for India in the event.\ In this championship, 650 top boxers from more than 100 countries are taking part across 13 weight categories .HSB