Men’s Boxing World Championships: Ashish in pre-quarterfinals, Harsh out
Tashkent. Tokyo Olympian Ashish Chowdhary advanced to the pre-quarterfinals of the men’s World Boxing Championships with a split decision win over Iran’s Messam Gheshlaghi in the 80kg category, here on Tuesday. Ashish defeated former Asian Championship silver medalist Messam 4-1 in a hard-fought match.
The 28-year-old Ashish from Himachal Pradesh was aggressive from the start and dominated the first round by landing some powerful punches on Messam. Asian Championships 2019 silver medalist Ashish then got the better of his Iranian opponent on the basis of skillful movements and better technical skills.
In the pre-quarterfinals, however, Ashish will face a tough fight from two-time Olympic champion Arlen Lopez of Cuba. Meanwhile, debutant Harsh Chowdhary bowed out of the competition after a 0-5 unanimous decision loss to Australia’s Billy McAllister in the 86kg category. On Wednesday, Nishant Dev (71kg) will take on 2021 World Championships bronze medalist Sarkhan Aliyev of Azerbaijan.
