Star boxer Mohammad Hussamuddin produced an impressive performance to open India’s campaign at the IBA Men’s World Boxing Championships with a resounding victory in Tashkent on Monday.
Hussamuddin (57kg), a two-time Commonwealth Games bronze-medallist, got the better of Macedonia’s Alen Rustemovski 5-0 in a one-sided first-round contest. The Telangana-born boxer made a cautious start to the bout but later brilliantly switched gears and landed a flurry of punches to dominate the Macedonian. Using his strength and high technical proficiency, Hussamuddin was able to land several accurate punches and win the bout with a unanimous decision.
India’s Varinder Singh, however, bowed out after losing 0-5 against Uzbekistan’s Mujibillo Tursunov in the 60kg category. Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Tokyo Olympian Ashish Chaudhary and debutant Harsh Choudhary will enter the ring. Ashish (80kg) will take on Iran’s Meysam Gheshlaghi, while Harsh (86kg) will take on Australia’s Billy McAllister.
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The Boxing Federation of India has fielded a 13-member team for the Men’s World Boxing Championships. 538 boxers including multiple Olympic medalists from 107 countries are taking part in the competition. As far as the performance of Indians in this championship is concerned, a total of seven Indian male boxers have won medals at the Men’s World Boxing Championships so far and the country’s talented boxers will aim to add to the tally in the current season of the tournament.
