Boxing World Qualifiers: Ankushita, Nishant Dev Seal Quarters Spots; Arundhati Also Advances

Gerlon Gilmar Congo Chala: Indian boxers continued to excel in the 2nd Boxing World Qualifiers for the Paris Olympics with former world youth champion Ankushita Boro (60kg) and Nishant Dev (71kg) registering comfortable victories in their respective weight categories reaching the quarterfinals in Bangkok, Thailand on Wednesday.

National champion Arundhati Choudhary also advanced to the Round of 16 of the 66kg weight category as she won her bout easily.

Boro was up against Asian champion Rimma Volossenko of Kazakhstan. But the Indian wasn’t bothered by the stature of her opponent as she went for her punches from Round 1 and never really looked in trouble throughout the bout to earn a 4-1 verdict.

In the day's final bout involving an Indian boxer, world championships bronze medallist Nishant Dev was clinical in his 5:0 demolition of Thailand’s Peerapat Yeasungnoen to reach the last eight stage.

Earlier in the day, Choudhary began her 66 kg campaign with a clinical Round 1 against Stephanie Pieneiro of Puerto Rico. She was slightly conservative in Round 2 as she consolidated her position before dominating the next round again to get a unanimous 5:0 verdict in her favour.

However, it was curtains for Narender Berwal in the +92kg category despite the Indian putting up a strong fight against Ecuador’s Gerlon Gilmar Congo Chala.

The 2022 Asian Games bronze medallist started slow in Round 1 and was then forced to catch up. He did well to impress three of the five judges with his punches in Round 2 and 3 of the Round of 32 bout. However, his efforts were not enough to overturn the overall deficit.

On Thursday, Sachin Siwach (57kg) will look to seal his quarterfinal berth against Batuhan Ciftci of Turkey while 2022 Commonwealth gold medallist Amit Panghal (51kg), Sanjeet (92kg) and Jaismine (women’s 57kg) will start their campaign after having received a bye in the opening round of their respective weight categories.