Olympics: Boxer Nishant Dev falls agonisingly short of medal after losing quarters

India’s Nishant Dev fell agonisingly short of winning a medal in the Paris Olympics on Saturday, 3 August.

Fighting his men’s 71kg bout against second seed Marco Alonso from Mexico, Nishant put up a spirited display but lost the bout via a split decision. Nishant’s loss fell in the pattern of several Indians falling just short of medal positions in the Paris Olympics, turning Saturday into another day of heartbreak for India.

Hours after Manu Bhaker finished 4th in the women’s 25m air pistol competition, Nishant’s spirited display was cut short by Alonso, who held his nerve against the strong Indian 23-year-old who was looking to go big or go home.

Nishant started off aggressively in the first round of the quarter-final bout. Both boxers started off aggressively keeping their guards down. Nishant got caught by multiple punches from the Mexican but did not take hits, sitting back. Nishant delivered multiple combinations of hooks to the face of the Mexican boxer. This set Marco Alonso on the backfoot and the second seed tried to clinch Nishant as much as possible.

This meant that Nishant won the first round by a comfortable 4-0 margin, with only only judge scoring the bout a 9-9 tie.

The second round of the match was no different, as Nishant came out swinging, but ended up getting slightly gassed out at the very end of the round. This meant that he reacted to the punches slower and ended up losing the second round 2-3 to Alonso.

The Indian boxer in the red corner opted not to keep his guard high in the final round as well and proceeded with his heavy punches against the Mexican. Alonso tried to close into Nishant and land heavy uppercuts from the centre which put Nishant in trouble. This meant that in the final seconds of the match, the Mexican boxer came out hammer and tongs against Nishant and took a late lead in the fight. Finishing the fight on a tremendous note meant that Marco Alonso won the favour of all 5 judges in the final round of the game, eventually edging out Nishant in points.

While Judge one scored the fight in favour of Nishant 29-28, the rest four judged it against him 28-29, at the end of the final round.