Boxing World C'ships: Hussamuddin, Deepak, and Nishant sign off with bronze

Deepak Bhoria (51kg), Mohammad Hussamuddin (57kg), and Nishant Dev (71kg) signed off with bronze medals at the World Boxing Championships, wrapping up India's best-ever show at the marquee event here on Friday.

It was heartbreak for Hussamuddin as the Nizamabad boxer was forced to withdraw due to a knee injury about an hour before his semifinal bout.

29-year-old Hussamuddin sustained a knee injury in his quarterfinal bout against J Diaz Ibanez of Bulgaria and decided against risking aggravation. "Hussamuddin gives a walkover due to injury and settles for bronze. He had a knee injury in the last bout after which he had pain and swelling," the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) said in a statement.

"After careful and detailed assessment by the medical team, Team Management has decided that he won't take part in the semi-final bout which is to take place today as he doesn't want the injury to aggravate but rather recover for future competitions."

Hussamudin, who was competing in his debut World Championships, was scheduled to face Cuba's Saidel Horta in the last-four clash.

On the other hand, Deepak's memorable campaign came to an end as he went down fighting to two-time World Championships bronze medallist France's Bilal Bennama 3-4 in a close contest that went into bout review.

Deepak was named in the squad ahead of 2019 Worlds silver medallist Amit Panghal. Both boxers were tentative in the beginning, trying to get the measure of their opponents.

Deepak was able to land a few punches but Bennama used his left jabs to great effect and took the round 3-2.

Bennama was the aggressor in the second round as he moved around the ring to dodge Deepak's punches but the Indian found a way to breach his defenses and land some eye-catching right crosses.

The final three minutes were fought intensely with both boxers throwing punches but the Frenchman was successful in blocking Deepak's blows to take the win.

Playing in the last bout, Nishant's semifinal also went to a bout review with the judges ruling in favor of the 2022 Asian champion and 2018 Asian Games silver medallist Aslanbek Shymbergenov of Kazakhstan.

The 22-year-old showcased a dynamic and aggressive approach throughout the bout but failed to defeat the Kazakh despite his best efforts.

Like Deepak, there was very little separating Nishant and Shymbergenov. The southpaw, who had missed a medal by a whisker in the last edition, did well to throw several left and right crosses, jabs, and hooks but the inaccuracy of those punches helped the Kazakh edge past him.

After the brilliant performances, Deepak, Hussamuddin, and Nishant have added their names to Indian boxing history books as three of the ten World Championships medallists from the country till now. This was also the very first time that India clinched three medals in a single edition of the tournament.

With three bronze, India ranked joint fourth in the medals tally at the prestigious tournament with hosts Uzbekistan (9), Cuba and Russia (6 each) and Kazakhstan (5) taking up the top three spots.