World Boxing Championships: Deepak Bhoria, Nishant Dev reaches Quarterfinals

Tashkent: Indian boxers Deepak Bhoria (51 kg) and Nishant Dev (71 kg) put on commanding performances to easily advance to the quarterfinals of the men's World Championships. In the 51 kg round of 16, Deepak defeated China's Zhangh Jiamao by a 5-0 unanimous verdict, continuing his winning streak in the competition. In contrast, Nishant barely sweated as he defeated Foqahaa Nidal of Palestine in the first round of his 71 kg last 16 matches via RSC (referee stops the match). The two and Mohammed Hussamuddin (57 kg), who will compete against Bulgaria's J. Diaz Ibanez in the quarterfinals, are one victory away from winning a medal

Such was Nishant's domination that he spent less than a minute in the ring before being declared the winner.

The Indian southpaw resorted to body blows before striking Nidal with a powerful right hook that compelled the referee to give the Palestinian his first standing count.

A few seconds later Nishant unleashed a combination of left-right-left hooks as Nidal fell on the canvas, forcing the referee to give him his second count before stopping the contest.

Nishant will face Jorge Cuellar Of Cuba in the quarterfinals.

Competing in the 51kg Olympic category, Deepak put up a brilliant display once again.

While the first round was neck and neck, with both boxers exchanging blows, the 25-year-old Indian managed to take a slender 3-2 lead.

He went into defensive mode at the start of the second round and used his counter-attacking game to strike some heavy left hooks on his opponent.

The Haryana boxer then ramped up the tempo in the final three minutes. He used his nimble foot to move around the ring, landing a combination of punches while also ducking away from his opponent's attacks rather effortlessly.

"My strategy was to use my strongest weapon in the match which is my left hook and everything went according to our plan in the match.

Deepak was selected ahead of World Championship silver medallist Amit Panghal and the 25-year-old has put up impressive performances in all three bouts he has played so far.

He will now play his next bout against Diushebaev Nurzhigit of Kyrgyzstan and will look to confirm a medal for India.

Sachin and Akash bow out

Sachin Siwach's (54kg) and Akash Sangwan's (67kg) campaigns, however, came to an end.

Both boxers went down by a similar 5-0 margin to Kazakh pugilists. While Sachin was ousted by top seed Makhmud Sabyrkhan, Akash was sent packing by Dulat Bekbauov.

Akash had a slow start and grew into the game with every round but in the end, it wasn't enough for the judges to give decisions in his favour.

On the other hand, Sachin started brightly as he landed heavy punches on his opponent in the first round.

After an even second round, the bout went down to the wire in the last round where Sabyrkhan showed his experience to get the better of the Indian boxer.

With PTI inputs