Clinical nishant dev

World Youth Champion Ankushita Boro: Nishant Dev became the fourth Indian and first male boxer to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics after he convincingly got the better of Moldova’s Vasile Cebotari 5-0 to reach the semifinals of the 71kg category at the 2nd Boxing World Qualifiers at Bangkok, Thailand, on Friday.

Dev, who had missed out on the Paris Olympic berth in the 1st Qualifier in Italy after going down to 2021 world championships silver medallist Omari Jones of USA at the same stage, was determined not to lose out this time around as he took control of Round 1 with a combination of a right-hand jab and a left-handed hook.

Cebotari did put up a fight in Rounds 2 and 3 but the experience of Dev shone bright as he mixed caution with aggression and landed a few hooks and uppercuts to earn a unanimous verdict.