PARIS: Indian boxer Nishant Dev was left shell-shocked after suffering a heart-breaking loss in his debut Olympic campaign in Paris on Saturday.
The ace pugilist was utterly disappointed after crashing out in the quarterfinal round of the men's 71kg category.
Nishant was just one win away from securing a medal for India in a sad day for the Indian contingent which saw Manu Bhaker missing out on a historic third medal in shooting, while archer Deepika Kumari was knocked out of the quarterfinals in the women's individual.
A controversial split verdict handed Nishant a shocking quarter-final defeat to Mexico's Marco Verde Alvarez.
The 23-year-old world championship bronze medallist, who got the better of Alvarez in the 2021 World Championships, won the opening round comfortably and looked to be on top in the second round as well, where he connected a flurry of massive jab hooks on the Mexican.
Much to his surprise, the decision of the judges favoured Alvarez in that round, putting him 3-2 ahead in the tie.
This shocking verdict left Nishant Dev in complete disbelief as he was completely taken aback by their decision.
Alvarez adopted an aggressive approach at the onset of the final round as he landed a combination of punches.
The Indian managed to duck and dodge a few of those attacks, but he looked completely spent as the bout progressed, and while he tried to unleash devastating blows, he was slow.
Alvarez pounced on this opportunity and sealed the victory which sent him to the semi-finals.
However, Nishant's 1-4 loss to the second-seed Mexican opponent in the quarterfinal at the North Paris Arena did not go down well with fans on social media as they accused the judges of denying India an assured medal at the Paris Olympics.
2008 Beijing Olympics bronze medallist Vijender Singh took to X to shed light on the shocking result of this match.
"I don't know what's the scoring system, but I think very close fight..he played so well..koi na bhai #NishantDev," Vijender wrote on X.
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