Hussamuddin starts with a win at Men's World Boxing Championships

Mohammad Hussamuddin produced a stellar performance to kick off India's campaign at the Men's World Boxing Championships with a lop-sided victory over Macedonia's Alen Rustemovski in Tashkent, Uzbekistan on Monday.

The two-time Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Hussamuddin (57kg) made lightwork of Rustemovski in the opening round with a dominating 5-0 win. The Telangana-born pugilist made a cautious start to the bout but shifted gears superbly to assert his dominance over the Macedonian.

Making use of his experience, strength, and high technical ability, Hussamuddin was able to land punches accurately and secure the victory with a unanimous decision.

In the 60kg category, Varinder Singh went down fighting against Mujibillo Tursunov of Uzbekistan and exited the competition after suffering a 0-5 defeat.

On Tuesday, Tokyo Olympian and 2019 Asian Championships Ashish Chaudhary and debutant Harsh Choudhary will take to the ring for their respective tournament openers. Ashish (80kg) will square off against Meysam Gheshlaghi of Iran while Harsh (86kg) will face Billy McAllister of Australia.

BFI has fielded a 13-man contingent to compete at the ongoing event that is witnessing the participation of 538 boxers, including several Olympic medallists, from 107 countries.

India will look to better their one-medal haul from the last edition in 2021 which was won by Ashish Kumar.

The gold medallists will take home prize money of USD 200,000, while the silver winners will get USD 100,000. Both the bronze medallists will be awarded USD 50,000 each.