World Men's Boxing C'ship: Hussamuddin withdraws from semifinal, wins bronze

Indian pugilist Hussamuddin withdrew from his semi-final in the 57kg category owing to injury at the ongoing World Men's Boxing Championship 2023 on Friday in Uzbekistan. This meant that the boxer clinched bronze, and thereby gave India the first medal of this edition.

"He had a knee injury in the last bout after which he had pain and swelling. After careful and detailed assessment by medical team, Team Management have 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 rather recover for future competitions," a press statement read.

The 29-year-old boxer from Nizambad, Telangana, was poised to face Cuba's Saidel Horta. It was always going to be a tough bout for the Indian as Horta had knocked out Worlds and Asian Championships silver medallist top seed Serik Temirzhanov of Kazakhstan in the quarterfinals to reach the semis.

Later in the day, two more Indians in Deepak (51kg) and Nishant (71kg) will vie for a final spot as they face two-time World Championships medallist Bilala Bennama from France and 2022 Asian Champion Aslanbek Shymbergenov of Kazakhstan respectively.