Nishant Dev was nowhere in the national scene when India’s five famed male boxers drew a blank from the Tokyo Olympics, leading to widespread criticism, and eventually forcing a change in guard. Three years later and with barely four months to go for the Paris Olympics, Indian boxers, including Nishant, found themselves at a similar crossroad, when Irish High Performance director Bernard Dunne resigned after none of the male pugilists managed to book a quota.

A young Nishant, who burst onto the scene with a quarterfinal finish in the light middle weight (71kg) category at the 2021 World Championships, was among a handful of men boxers whom the country had high hopes from during the first qualifying event in Italy. But the 2023 World championships bronze medallist returned home empty-handed after going down to World Championships silver medalist Omari Jones of the US in the 71kg quarterfinals in March this year.

Trailing the more experienced American boxer after the opening round, Nishant went toe to toe with his opponent for the rest of the fight. He managed to draw level after the second round before going down by a narrow margin.

“That was a big disappointment. The first round was a bit slow. I put in a lot of effort in the second round, which I won and in the third round as well. I did not realize it in the ring, but the disappointment hit me after I had returned to the dressing room when I that I had lost an Olympic quota,” Nishant said.

“I was absolutely sure that I had won the third round. But the judges’ decision went against me. Mentally, I was under a lot of pressure after that defeat because I had only one chance left to qualify for the Olympics. I was quite disturbed and went through a lot of mental torment over the next few days,” he added.

Devastated after the heartbreak, Nishant didn’t want to leave anything to chance when the do-or-die opportunity came in Bangkok during the final Boxing World Qualifier, earlier this month. Giving a clinical performance in all the three bouts, Nishant booked his berth for the Paris Games. In the quota-deciding bout, the 23-year-old defeated Moldova’s Vasile Cebotari by a unanimous 5-0 verdict.

“I had only one chance left to qualify and very little time to prepare. After returning from Italy, we got a brief 4-5 day break and during that period I went back to my home, and spoke to my coaches. I worked on my stamina, and endurance, as I used to tire in the third round. But in Thailand, I enjoyed boxing in the final round, so it eventually worked in my favour.”

“I was under a lot of pressure before the Thailand tournament. But I took the defeat as a source of motivation and worked hard to prepare for the Thailand qualifier. I was better prepared this time, physically and mentally. I lost in the previous qualifier by a very small margin, so this time I wanted to make sure I did not make any errors,” he added.

Nishant, who has been one of the most consistent boxers in recent couple of years, boasts of a perfect blend of speed, timing and power. With fast hands and nimble foot movement, Nishant has the ability to adapt inside the ring, and this makes the southpaw a dangerous opponent. He used the combination of right jab and left cross against Cebotari to good effect en-route clinching the Paris quota.

“I think my strength is that I can adapt to my opponent’s style. I try to grab as much as I can from the international exposures over the past couple of years, and implement those during training sessions. I try and execute all those different gameplans to perfection inside the ring. I’m happy that on most occasions, the ability to adapt has worked in my favour,” he noted.

Now left with a little over a month to prepare for the first Olympics of his career, the young boxer from Karnal is focussing to get the basics right, and remain injury free as he aims to keep the Tricolour flying high in Paris.