Tashkent: Deepak Bhoria (51kg), Mohammad Hussamudin (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 Hussamudin as the Nizamabad boxer was forced to withdraw due to a knee injury about an hour before his semifinal bout.
On the other hand, Deepak's memorable campaign came to end as he went down fighting to two-time World Championships bronze medallist France's Bilal Bennama 3-4 in a close contest which went into bout review. Nishant's semifinal also went to bout review with the judges ruling in favour of the 2022 Asian champion and 2018 Asian Games silver medallist Aslanbek Shymbergenov of Kazakhstan.
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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 defences 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.
Earlier, the 29-year-old Hussamudin 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," Boxing Federation of India (BFI) said in a statement.
"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." Hussamudin, who was competing in his debut World Championships, was scheduled to face Cuba's Saidel Horta in the last four clash. (PTI)
