Deepak, Hussamudin and Nishant eye final berth at boxing World Championships

India would be aiming to better their bestever show when the trio of Deepak Bhoria Mohammad Hussamudin and Nishant Dev step inside the ring against tough opponents in pursuit of summit berths in the mens boxing World Championships here on FridayThe fact that all three medals have come in Olympic categories augers well for India heading into the Asian Games which is the first qualifying event for the Paris OlympicsIndia have never had three semifinalists at the marquee event for amateur boxers and in that respect the three boxers have already scripted historyAlso ReadTerrific three Deepak Hussamudin Nishant assure bestever medal haul for India at World CshipsIn 2019 Amit Panghal became the first Indian male boxer to reach the final which was a gigantic step forward for the sport in the country and now Deepak Hussmudin and Nishant have the chance to take it forwardThe task however is easier said than done All three of them have tough opponents standing in their path to the finalDeepak 51kg has in his way twotime World Championships medallist Bilala Bennama The Frenchman who is also the 2022 European champion will be eager to change the shade of his two bronze medalsHussamuddin 57kg on the other hand will go up against Cubas Saidel Horta who knocked out Worlds and Asian Championships silver medallist top seed Serik Temirzhanov of Kazakhstan in the quarterfinalsNishant 71kg will face 2022 Asian Champion and 2018 Asian Games silver medallist Aslanbek Shymbergenov of KazakhstanIt is a chance for Deepak to either replicate or better the silverwinning feat of former world number one Panghal who has been the first choice in this weight category for longDeepaks first major medal came at the 2019 Asian Championships where he clinched a silver He finished runnerup at the prestigious Strandja Memorial tournament in 2021The 25yearold went on to win the 2021 and 2023 Nationals and based on the new selection criteria he was named in the Indian squad ahead of Panghal for this event He has repaid the faith the new High Performance Director Bernard Dunne and coach Dmitry Dmitruk have shown in himArmed with a lethal left hook Deepak has impressed one and all in this tournament He staged one of the biggest upsets of the championships by upstaging Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Saken Bibossinov of KazakhstanNizamabads Hussamudin on the other hand had to wait long for this opportunity to compete at the Worlds but as they say the longer the wait the sweeter the fruit the 29yearold has medalled on his debut campaignThe twotime Commonwealth Games bronze medallist is one of the most experienced campaigners in the squad and he will be banking on this experience against Horta in the battle of the debutantsNishant burst into the scene a couple of years ago when he reached the quarterfinals of the 2021 Worlds He had missed a medal by a whisker back then but made up for itWith a bronze in his pocket the tenacious pugilists would aspire to change the shadeBefore this year India had never won more than a silver and bronze each in a single edition of the mens World ChampionshipsThe overall medal count for the country before the ongoing edition stood at one silver won by Panghal 2019 and six bronze medals claimed by Vijender Singh 2009 Vikas Krishan 2011 Shiva Thapa 2015 Gaurav Bidhuri 2017 Manish Kausik 2019 and Akash Kumar 2021This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever