World Olympic Boxing Qualifier 1: Nishant Dev falls short of Paris Olympics quota place

Nishant Dev, the World Championships bronze medallist, missed out on a Paris Olympics quota place as he suffered a 1-4 defeat to USA's Omari Jones in the 71kg quarterfinals of the first World Olympic Boxing Qualifier in Busto Arsizio in Italy on Monday night.

The 23-year-old boxer trailed in the bout where the winner sealed a spot in the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

Nishant, who won the featherweight bronze medal at the World Championships last year, needed to win his quarterfinal bout to earn India's fifth Paris Olympics quota place and first in the men's category.

There were four quota places in men's 71kg weight category up for grabs.

Nishant, however, went down in the opening round to 2021 World Championship silver medallist Jones as all five judges gave a perfect 10 to the American boxer while the Indian got five 9s.

Though the Indian boxer won the next round, with four judges giving him 10s and one going in favour of Jones, he could not stay in the fight in the final round.

Three judges gave 10s to Jones, while Dev got 10s from the remaining two, resulting in a split verdict win for the American.

Nishant was the only Indian hope to secure a quota place at the event as he was the only one in the nine-member contingent to make it to the quarterfinals in Italy.

So far four Indians -- Nikhat Zareen (50kg), Preeti Pawar (54kg), Parveen Hooda (57kg) and Lovlina Borgohain (75kg) -- have so far clinched Paris quota places at the Asian Games last year.

The Indian boxers will get a final chance to win quota places at the second World Olympic Boxing Qualifier, scheduled to be held in Bangkok from May 23 to June 3.

45 to 51 boxers will be able to secure their tickets to Paris at the Bangkok event.