Nishant Dev (71kg) became the first Indian male pugilist to secure a Paris Games quota when he reached the semifinals of the Boxing Olympic qualifiers on Friday.
The world championships bronze medalist, who had narrowly missed on an Olympic berth in the previous qualifiers, earned the quota after defeating Vasile Cebotari of Moldova 5-0 in the quarterfinal which was a battle of the southpaws.
It is India’s fourth quota place with women boxers Nikhat Zareen (50kg), Preet Pawar (54kg) and Lovlina Borgohain (75kg) having already secured their passage to Paris.
The 71kg weight class had five quotas on offer.
HE'S OFF TO PARIS! #TeamIIS athlete Nishant Dev books his tickets to the 2024 Paris Olympics with a big win over Vasile Cebotari in the quarterfinal of the Men's 71kg event at the 2nd World Olympic Qualifier, in Bangkok. You've made us proud, Nishant! … pic.twitter.com/OrDXETUHKG
— Inspire Institute of Sport (@IIS_Vijayanagar) May 31, 2024
#ParisOlympics Quota Alert#TOPSchemeAthlete & 's ⭐pugilist Nishant Dev books a ticket for #Paris2024 at the 2⃣nd Boxing World #Olympic Qualifiers held at .The Indian won 5-0 against Moldova's Cebotari in the QFs
You got this Nishant *LET'S GO*@BFI_official… pic.twitter.com/2y9KUTecIL
— SAI Media (@Media_SAI) May 31, 2024
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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.
Earlier, India’s quest for booking a quota in the women’s 60kg ended with Ankushita Boro 2-3 defeat against Agnes Alexiusson of Sweden in the quarterfinals.
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Later in the day, Arundhati Choudhary (66kg) and Amit Panghal (51kg) will be in action.
(With inputs from Agencies)
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