"Channelled Anger Of Previous Loss": Boxing Nishant Dev On Sealing Olympics Berth

He claims to have the perfect blend of speed, timing, and power that define a world-beating boxer and that's why the Olympic-bound Nishant Dev (71kg) says he has no qualms in calling himself "god-gifted". His assertion might sound conceited to some but perhaps, this confidence is what earned him a place at the Paris Olympics. The 23-year-old prodigal talent burst onto the scene in 2021 when he reached the light middle-weight (71kg) quarterfinal in his maiden world championship appearance.

Two years later, he had a world championship bronze medal around his neck and now he is one of two Indian male boxers who will fly to Paris for the Olympics.

"I am god-gifted, I have everything in me," Dev replied when asked to elaborate on his strengths.

"I have power, speed and timing. But the main (thing) is skills. If you have that you can win against any kind of boxer," Dev said in an interaction with select media on Wednesday.

Dev, who struggled with a shoulder niggle for years, booked his place in the Paris Games with a dominant show at the final qualifying event in Bangkok last week. He had narrowly missed out at the previous qualifiers after a heartbreaking loss to Omari Jones of USA.

Confident in his abilities, Dev had then promised to make the Paris cut no matter what it took.

"(There were) shortcomings that I had, like low stamina in third round, my body balance and also the fact that my body function had become a little weak. I didn't have the body language that one should have in round three. I worked on all of this," he revealed.

The southpaw lost out in the closing seconds of the bout against Jones after both boxers went toe-to-toe in the first two rounds. Dev said the defeat left him with a lot of pent up anger.

"I have