Nishant Dev and Sachin Siwach Shine at Boxing World Olympic Qualifiers

Nishant Dev and Sachin Siwach secured victories in their respective weight categories at the Boxing World Olympic Qualifiers. Dev defeated Mongolia's Otgonbaatar Byamba-Erdeneto in just over two minutes, while Siwach won unanimously against Denmark’s Frederik Jensen. Abhinash Jamwal was unfortunately knocked out of his bout. Upcoming matches include national champion Arundhati Choudhary and Narender Berwal.

India's Nishant Dev outpunched his Mongolian opponent in just over two minutes to progress to the 71kg pre-quarterfinals before Sachin Siwach registered a convincing win in the 57kg weight category of the second Boxing World Olympic Qualifiers here on Tuesday.

Abhinash Jamwal, however, ran out of luck as he was knocked out of the tournament.

Dev, who had narrowly missed an Olympic berth in the previous qualifiers, began with a flurry of punches against Mongolia's Otgonbaatar Byamba-Erdeneto to force a standing count in the very first minute.

A combination of a jab and cross hook led to another standing count and the Referee Stopped the Contest (RSC) with 58 seconds still left to play in round one. The 23-year-old will take on Thailand's Peerapat Yeasungnoen for a place in the quarterfinals on Wednesday. Later in the day, Siwach began in a similar fashion, looking to land as many punches on Frederik Jensen of Denmark, and grabbed the advantage in first round. His confidence only grew as the match progressed as he earned a unanimous verdict from all five judges in round two and three to ultimately grab the win with a 5-0 verdict. But Jamwal was unlucky to be knocked out in the 63.5kg category. The 21-year-old fought back with gumption after losing a close first round against Colombia's Jose Manuel Viafara Fory and clearly dominated the third and final round to force a tie on points from all five judges. As per the rules, the judges were then asked to again weigh the performance and decide the winner. All of them voted in Fory's favour after a long deliberation to seal a 5-0 final score for the Colombian. On Wednesday, national champion Arundhati Choudhary (66kg) and 2022 Asian Games bronze medallist Narender Berwal (+92 kg) will start their campaigns in the Round of 32. Ankushita Boro, who convincingly won her Round of 32 bout in 60kg weight category, will be in action against Rimma Volossenko of Kazakhstan.