Indian boxers end historic campaign with three medals at IBA Men’s World Boxing Championships

Hussamuddin, Deepak and Nishant sign off with bronze

Nishant Dev in action during his quarter-final bout on Wednesday.

Khel Today Bureau 

Tashkent: Distinguished pugilists Deepak Kumar, Mohammed Hussamuddin and Nishant Dev capped off their memorable campaigns with bronze medals as India concluded the IBA Men’s World Boxing Championship 2023 with three medals in Tashkent, Uzbekistan on Friday.

With three bronze, India ranked joint fourth in the medals tally at the prestigious tournament with hosts Uzbekistan (9), Cuba and Russia (6 each) and Kazakhstan (5) taking up the top three spots.

Displaying unwavering grit, the 2019 Asian silver medallist Deepak (51kg) put up a tenacious fight before going down 3-4 against the two-time Worlds bronze medallist Billal Bennama of France in the semi-finals after the bout was reviewed. The Hisar-born pugilist made a cautious start to the bout and conceded the first round by 2:3 before showcasing immense resilience to fight back and prevail in the second round with the same scoreline.

Both pugilists went toe-to-toe in the closely-contested bout but in the end it was the French boxer who narrowly edged over Deepak to secure a hard-fought victory on points.

Similar to Deepak, Nishant (71kg), also endured a fiercely contested 2-5 loss after his bout was reviewed against the reigning Asian champion Aslanbek Shymbergenov of Kazakhstan. The 22-year-old showcased a dynamic and aggressive approach throughout the bout but failed to defeat the Kazakh despite his best efforts.

Meanwhile, due to a knee injury, suffered in the quarter-finals, two-time Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Hussamuddin had to unfortunately give a walkover and settle for bronze in his debut World Championships campaign.

After the brilliant performances, Deepak, Hussamuddin and Nishant have added their names in Indian boxing history books as three of the ten World Championships medallists from the country till now. This was also the very first time that India clinched three medals at a single edition of the tournament.

The prestigious tournament witnessed the participation of 538 boxers, including several Olympic medallists, from 107 countries. The bronze-medallists will be awarded USD 50,000 each.