Deepak Kumar Bhoria earned India’s first medal on the 2023 Men’s Boxing World Championships by defeating Nurzhigit Diushebaev of Kyrgyzstan 5-0 within the 51kg flyweight division quarterfinals. Deepak (25) made the India squad for the event in outstanding circumstances, pipping the overwhelming favorite Amit Panghal due to his superior efficiency on the choice trials.

He now faces Po Wei Tu of Chinese Taipei or fourth-seed Billal Bennama of France within the semifinal on Friday.

Starting within the crimson nook, Deepak walked out to a partisan crowd that was largely supporting his opponent. A few last-minute ideas from his coaches and the bout started, with each boxers preserving their distance initially. Deepak was the primary to go on the offensive, touchdown an uppercut earlier than a fast mixture punch put his opponent on the backfoot. He fended off a late flurry regardless of being backed right into a nook, weaving away earlier than a fast left hook some him join as soon as extra. Unsurprisingly, all 5 judges scored the spherical 10-9 in his favour.

Diushebaev began the second spherical with loads of aggression with a collection of fast jabs to Deepak’s midriff and face, however the Indian saved up his defence. An outstanding counter-punch with a minute to go noticed the Kyrgyz boxer earn a standing rely, with Deepak utilizing his boxing smarts to lure his opponent after which ship telling blows. The Indian gained the second spherical 10-9 from 4 judges with one choose ruling 10-8 in Deepak’s favour.

The last spherical noticed Deepak purpose to maintain his distance, bobbing and weaving away from Diushebaev’s punches, earlier than the referee paused the bout to have the Kyrgyz boxer’s glove mounted. Deepak opted for a defence-first strategy however a few openings in his opponent’s guard noticed him join. With his coaches yelling at him to be cautious from the sidelines, Deepak saved his guard up earlier than one other counter-punch to the face noticed Diushebaev obtain one other standing rely proper because the bout ended.

There was little doubt when the outcome was introduced, with the referee elevating Deepak’s arm to verify the unanimous victory. A fast namaste to all 4 sides of the ring, and Deepak walked off with a comparatively muted celebration: maybe with greater goals than the bronze medal he assured for himself.

Bhoria’s displacement of Panghal – who gained gold on the 2018 Asian Games and the 2022 Commonwealth Games and silver on the 2019 World Championships – got here below the newly-appointed High Performance Director Bernard Dunne, at a 12-day coaching camp the place he outscored Panghal (731-682).

However, Deepak already had pedigree of his personal: he gained gold on the 2023 National Championships in his hometown of Hisar, Haryana, so as to add to his golds from 2021 and 2018 as effectively (when he burst onto the home stage as a 21-year-old). He’d made waves on the worldwide stage in 2021, successful silver on the Strandja Memorial, defeating 2016 Rio Olympic gold medallist and 2019 World Champion, Shakhobidin Zoirov of Uzbekistan alongside the best way. The orthodox boxer, who needed to give up the game as a toddler because of monetary constraints and even as soon as labored as a newspaper vendor to maintain himself, isn’t in awe of the large names, even defeating Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist, 2021 World Champion and #1 seed at these Worlds, Saken Bibossinov within the Ro32 (5-2 after a bout evaluation).

“Coaches had told me to lure my opponent with the right punch before using my left hook to good effect. It worked as I connect a lot of left hooks to get points”, mentioned Deepak after that win. Despite being an orthodox boxer, an damage to his proper arm in 2011 pressured him to develop his weaker arm, along with his left hook now one among his main strengths – which has served him effectively in these World Championships.

Road to SF:

Round-of-64: Deepak Kumar Bhoria 5-0 Luis Delgado of Ecuador

Round-of-32: Deepak Kumar Bhoria 5-2 Saken Bibossinov of Kazakhstan (bout review)

Round-of-16: Deepak Kumar Bhoria 5-0 Zhang Jiamao of China

Quarterfinal: Deepak Kumar Bhoria 5-0 Nurzhigit Diushebaev of Kyrgyzstan