Nishant had a bone marrow infection, did not box for 6 months: Family did not want him to play further, but he returned and won his first international medal

Nishant defeated Jose Gabriel of Ecuador in his first match.

Indian boxer Nishant Dev has secured a bronze medal in the Paris Olympics. Born in Karnal, Haryana, 23-year-old Nishant’s journey to the Olympics has been difficult. When Nishant started boxing in 2012, his shoulder was broken and he had a rod inserted. Nishant did not stop and kept his focus on boxing.

He started getting results from 2021. He played the national finals and also participated in the Elite World Championship. His boxing impressed everyone.

But in 2022, his shoulder injury resurfaced. Investigation revealed that it was a bone marrow infection. Nishant used to practice after taking painkillers. He underwent surgery and spent time in rehab, staying away from boxing. He returned in 2023 and became his first national champion. Read Nishant Dev’s story…

Nishant Dev boxing with Jose Gabriel Rodriguez of Ecuador.

Starting from Nishant’s house
Nishant was born in Karnal in 2000. He was exposed to sports since childhood. His father Pawan Dev was a wrestler and mother Priyanka was a runner. But, Nishant got inspiration for boxing from his uncle Harish. Harish has boxed at the district level.

When Bhaskar spoke to Nishant’s father Pawan, he said, “There was a boxing punching bag hanging in the house. Nishant used to box on it since the age of 6, but the real training started at the age of 12. Nishant started learning boxing tricks at the Karnal stadium where his mother used to practice running. Nishant’s elder brother Siddharth is also a boxer. However, Nishant has also tried his hand at skating in school. His mother learned to cook non-veg for Nishant.”

When Nishant got injured, we wanted him to quit boxing
Father says, “Nishant was 10 years old. He went to catch a kite and fell down the stairs. The shoulder broke and a wire was inserted during the operation. When Nishant was playing the pre-quarterfinals in the World Boxing Championship in Serbia in 2021, the pain emerged. After this, the pain intensified during the trials for the Commonwealth Games in 2022. Despite being selected, he did not go.”

There was an infection inside. Due to this, Nishant underwent an operation in 2022 as well. We wanted him to quit boxing. It is a game of hands only, there was a risk of the injury getting serious.”

Nishant is full of confidence
Pawan Dev says, “Despite our refusal, Nishant said that he will return to boxing. He is full of confidence. After the surgery, he went to the center and did rehab there. The operation was done in March 2022 and he became the national champion in January 2023. The doctor used to say that it would take 9 months to return after the operation, but Nishant returned in 6 months and became the champion in the 9th month.”

Nishant Dev during the opening ceremony of Paris Olympics

Mother learned to cook non-veg for her son
The father said, “Our whole family is vegetarian. But we know that eating non-veg provides protein. When Nishant got injured, mother learned to cook non-veg so that he could get more protein and recovery could be faster.”

Came to Karnataka from Karnal for training
His father said, “Nishant used to play for Haryana at the junior and youth level. In 2016, he lost to a boxer from Tamil Nadu in the Youth Nationals. There was a change in the scoring rules. He lost despite the high score. Ronald Sims, who was training at the Inspire Institute of Boxing in Vijayanagar, Karnataka, also came to this championship held in Delhi. He told Nishant to train at our centre. After this, Nishant went there. Currently, Nishant is training under British coach John.”

Also fought for Olympic quota
Nishant said, “In early 2024, Nishant lost to Omari Jones of America in the first Olympic qualifier held in Italy. He sat with me and had a long discussion. He worked hard in training for 2 months and worked on his shortcomings. After this, he won the quarter-finals of the World Championship in Bangkok and secured the Olympic quota.”

Now an interesting story about ice cream
The World Cup was going on in Tashkent. Nishant had qualified for India there. Before a match, Nishant was going to the hotel. There was an ice cream vendor outside and Nishant ate ice cream. When he went to get weighed the next day, he found out that his weight had gone out of his weight category. There was one day left for the match. Nishant kept running all day to lose weight. He reduced his weight according to the category limit and won a bronze medal in that championship.

Nishant Dev won the bronze medal in the World Championship 2023.