The Paris Olympics 2024 is underway and the 23-year-old Indian boxer, Nishant Dev has emerged as one of the potential athletes to bring back a medal for the country at the Men's 71kg boxing event.
Dev will face off against Mexico's Marco Verde in the quarterfinals and is only one win away from securing a medal at the Paris 2024 games.
In this article, The Sporting News looks at the Indian boxer's career, his achievements and more importantly, his path to the Paris Olympics 2024.
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Who is Nishant Dev?
Born on December 23, 2000, in Karnal, Haryana, is a young Indian boxer who will be competing at the Men's boxing event in the 71kg category at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
He did his schooling at the OPS Vidya Mandir and attended college at the Babu Anant Ram Janta College in Kaul. Before he took up boxing, he was a national skater.
Nishant started boxing in the year 2012, after finding inspiration watching his uncle, who was also a professional boxer. He used to train at Karan stadium in Karnal, under coach Surender Chauhan. Nishant’s father used to accompany him to training and ensured that he was coached well, waking him up at 4 AM in the morning and used to take him to practice in the evening as well.
Later on, he went on to train in Vijayanagar, Karnataka, at the Inspire Institute of Sports (ISS), where he found a new home as an amateur boxer.
Nishant Dev - Early career
At the age of 19, he represented Karnataka in his first Senior National Championships in Baddi in 2019 but lost in the quarterfinals.
Although he did well enough to impress the then high-performance director of Indian boxing Santiago Nieva, who took him to the Indian camp, where he trained with the best in the country.
In 2021, he won gold at the National Championships, which provided him a pathway to represent India at the World Championships. Interestingly, he has never competed at the Junior or Youth level in the internationally.
Start of International career
The elite World Boxing Championship in 2021 was his debut international tournament, where he exited in the quarterfinals but impressed everyone with his fearless boxing as an unknown name in the scene. He defeated Hungary’s nine-time National Champion Laszlo Kozak in the first round, and two-time Olympian Merven Clair of Mauritius in the second round.
He even went on to defeat Mexico’s Marco Alvarez Verde, whom he will face again at the Paris 2024 Olympics' quarterfinals event in the 71kg category.
How did Nishant Dev script a comeback from injury?
Nishant had dislocated his right shoulder at the age of 10, in 2010 after falling down the stairs. At the beginning of 2022, his old injury resurfaced as the rod that was put in his shoulder 12 years ago, as he ended up with an infected bone marrow. He had continued to participate in tournaments despite signs of this injury earlier.
"In 2021, I won at the Nationals that year and also returned from the World Championships but in 2022, when I was training for the Asian Championships, the pain resurfaced. I was taking about five to six painkillers a day, giving it a warm compress every few hours but nothing changed," Nishant had said in an interview.
He underwent surgery in March 2022 and was in rehab for most of the year, due to which he also had to miss the Commonwealth games that year.
Despite limited training, he came back strong to retain his title at the National Boxing Championships in Hisar in January 2023.
"I lost several tournaments because of the injury. But I was confident that I can do it as my boxing skills and mindset are different. My family motivated me and kept me positive. When I did rehab at the IIS (Inspire Institute of Sport) for six months, I worked on my shoulder. It improved my strength," he added.
Nishant Dev wins a bronze medal at the World Championships 2023
At the IBA Men’s World Boxing Championships in Tashkent, in May 2023, Nishant won a bronze medal, which was his first medal at the international level.
He caused multiple upsets at the tournament, as he defeated 2021 World Championships bronze medalist Sarkhan Aliyev of Azerbaijan with a 5-0 victory and Cuba’s Jorge Cuellar by a 5-0 unanimous decision, to win the bronze medal. However, he suffered a 2-5 loss against the reigning Asian champion Aslanbek Shymbergenov of Kazakhstan.
"In the last World Championships, I lost by a 3-2 split decision in the quarterfinals. Everyone told me that I did really well then and I was sure to win it if it didn’t go into review. I had been carrying that hunger and anger since then. It didn’t matter to me then that who was standing against me. I had to give my 110% anyway. I didn’t want the same story on repeat, a 3-2 scoreline and people following up with 'You did well'. I just did not want to hear it," he told Scroll
Nishant Dev - Road to Paris
Nishant had come close to claiming the quota for Paris Olympics 2024 during the first World Boxing Qualifiers Busto Arsizio, Italy in March 2024, but he lost 1-4 to USA’s Omari Jones in the quarterfinals.
This prevented him from guaranteeing his spot the Olympic games. however, he had another opportunity, three months later, to secure his place to represent India at the world event in Paris.
During the second boxing qualifiers in Bangkok, Thailand, in May 2024, where he won four bouts, which helped him to qualify for the Olympic games in July 2024. He was the first male Indian boxer to secure a spot at the Paris games, who was later joined by Amit Panghal.
Asked about his expectations at the Summer Olympic Games, Nishant said:
"The expectation from myself is simple; win a gold at the Olympics, do what has not been done so far by any Indian. It’s to show that we’re no less than anyone."
So far, Indian boxers have won three bronze medals at the Olympics, the 23-year-old echoed the expectations of his coach, when he said that he wanted to win the gold medal at the boxing event in Paris.
"It’s only up for Nishant from here. He wants to go to the Olympics and win the gold. Competing in this World championship is going to help him," Nishant's American coach Ronald Simms had said ahead of his bronze medal win at the World Championships in 2023.
List of Achievements of Indian boxer Nishant Dev
Here is a list of medals won by 23-year-old Indian boxer, Nishant Dev in his young career so far:
| Year | Competition | Medal |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Grand Slam Asian Boxing Championship | Gold |
| 2019 | Elite Men's National Boxing Championship | Silver |
| 2023 | Elite Men's National Boxing Championship | Gold |
| 2023 | IBA Men's World Boxing Championships (71kg) | Bronze |
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