AIBA Men’s World Championships: Nishant Dev and Sanjeet cruise into quarter-finals

Belgrade: Indian boxers Nishant Dev (71kg) and Sanjeet (92kg) made the quarterfinals of the AIBA Men’s World Championships following impressive victories in their last-16 stage bouts.

Joining Akash Kumar (54kg) and Narender (+92) in the last-8 stage, the current Asian champion Sanjeet and Nishant showcased splendid show in their matches played late on Sunday night to ensure all-win record for the country on the seventh day of the prestigious tournament, where 650 top boxers have been participating from more than 100 countries from across the world.

Having lost the opening round, the boxer from Rohtak, Sanjeet recovered well in time against the Georgian opponent Giorgi Tchigladze not only to win the next round but also the 92kg Last-16 contest 4-1 comfortably in the end.

Similarly, on the other hand, playing in the 71kg pre-quarterfinals bout, debutant Nishant struggled in the early part of the game. However, the reigning national champion from Karnataka, turned the tables quite handsomely in the later stage of the match with some continuous sharp and precise body blows against the Mexican Alvarez Verde to tilt the result of the closely-fought match 3-2 in his favour.

Later tonight, Rohit Mor (57kg), Akash Sangwan (67kg), Sumit (75kg) and five-time Asian medallist Shiva Thapa (63.5kg) will look to secure quarterfinal berths. Rohit will face Kazakhstan’s Serik Temirzhanov, while Akash will fight Cuba’s Kevin Brown. Sumit will also be up against a Cuban in Yoenlis Hernandez. Thapa will be fighting France’s Lounes Hamraoui.

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 USD 25,000 each. The total prize purse stands at a whopping USD 2.6 million.

India are being represented by its reigning national champions across weight categories.

With inputs from PTI