'I Am Feeling Very Bad': Boxer Nishant Dev Expresses Dissatisfaction With Quarterfinal Result In Paris

Paris Olympics 2024: India's star boxer Nishant Dev showed his disappointment with the result of his quarterfinal match at the ongoing mega-event. A disheartened Nishant thought that he might clinch the gold medal and that the country had not just been robbed of a bronze medal but a gold medal as well. He lost to Mexico's Marco Verde Alvarez in the 71kg category last week. He was just one match away from helping the country win another medal at the Paris Olympics. He also said that such things shouldn't happen to any athlete.

"I am feeling very bad. India lost not only a bronze but a gold medal, and I saw myself getting such a gold medal because I had defeated the person with whom I fought before and I had defeated him in this fight too but the point of view of the judges was different and I was not at all happy with their decision," Nishant was quoted as saying to ANI.

His defeat didn't go well with a few social media users as they said that the umpire made unfair decisions, which cost the country a medal. Nishant had dominated the first round as he was leading by 4-1 and then was looking at his absolute best in the second round as well, where he had hit the Mexican with brilliant jab hooks but still, the judges gave the decision in Alvarez's favor, which helped him tie the round 3-2. Nishant, who had beaten the Mexican boxer previously, was defeated in the final round.

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Nishant was aiming for gold

Nishant felt cheated as his hard work of 15 years had all gone in vain.

"And I just don't have anything to say because the years of hard work that I had put in morning, evening, day, and night for this Olympics, my boxing training of the last fifteen years, have seen it coming to a disappointing end here today. But it doesn't matter, the sadness inside me says that in the coming Olympics, such a thing should not happen to any athlete. Unless you are an athlete, no one can understand how much sorrow and pain you have inside you", he added.

IOC should look at poor judging decisions

Nishant further revealed that the IOC should intervene and make all the judging decisions.

"I would like the Olympics and the IOC to look at these poor judging decisions and take some action against them. First of all, I don't understand why there are five judges. They are giving the decision and the first thing is that the boxer can do whatever he wants, the decision is in the hands of the referees, and earlier the scoring was good given this time the scoring is disappointing", he said.

"It is not known which athlete is winning, still these people do it in favor of the other opponent. If there is a judging scoring system of five-zero and a blue corner is winning a one-sided fight it is still in its favor. One is coming and four are those who are going in favor of the red corner", he revealed.

Nishant was the country's lone boxer in the men's category but he suffered a heartbreaking loss.

"So I want to ask, what is lacking in that judge that he is not able to see why he has been given each scoring, rather he was dominating the entire round, so I would like to know that. These should be looked into and action should be taken", he concluded.