India's boxing contingent at the Men's World Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan started Friday with three boxers still in contention for a possible gold, but it ended with Deepak Kumar, Mohammed Hussamuddin and Nishant Dev all ending their campaign with bronze medals.
The three medal haul helped the contingent finish joint fourth in the medals tally with hosts Uzbekistan (9), Cuba and Russia (6 each) and Kazakhstan (5) taking up the top three spots.
This was also the first time India won three medals at a single Men's World Championships.
Displaying unwavering grit, the 2019 Asian silver medallist Deepak (51kg) put up a tenacious fight before going down 3-4 against the two-time Worlds bronze medallist Billal Bennama of France in the semi-finals after the bout was reviewed. The Hisar-born pugilist made a cautious start to the bout and conceded the first round by 2:3 before showcasing immense resilience to fight back and prevail in the second round with the same scoreline.
Both pugilists went toe-to-toe in the closely-contested bout but in the end it was the French boxer who narrowly edged over Deepak to secure a hard-fought victory on points.
Similar to Deepak, Nishant (71kg), also endured a fiercely contested 2-5 loss after his bout was reviewed against the reigning Asian champion 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.
Meanwhile, due to a knee injury, suffered in the quarter-finals, two-time Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Hussamuddin had to unfortunately give a walkover and settle for bronze in his debut World Championships campaign.
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