Indian boxer Nishant Dev was left in utter disbelief after his debut Olympic campaign in Paris ended in heartbreak on Saturday, with a loss in the quarterfinal round of the men's 71kg category. Nishant was one win away from assuring himself a medal for India, one what had been a sad day for the Indian contingent with Manu Bhaker missing out on a historic third medal in shooting, while archer Deepika Kumari suffered a quarterfinal exit in women's individual. However, Nishant lost the quarterfinal bout after a devastating split verdict defeat to Mexico's Marco Verde Alvarez.

The 23-year-old world championship bronze medallist, who had defeated Alvarez in the 2021 World Championships, won the opening round with ease and looked in complete control of the bout in the second round as well, where he landed a streak of massive jab hooks on the Mexican, yet the judges surprisingly sided with Alvarez in that round, putting him 3-2 ahead in the tie.

Alvarez landed a combination of punches to start the final round aggressively. The Indian did well to duck and evade a few of those, but he looked completely spent as the bout progressed, and while he tried to throw punches, he was slow. Alvarez capitalised on it and wrapped up the win.

Nishant's 1-4 loss to the second-seed Mexican opponent in the quarterfinal at the North Paris Arena, however, did not sit well with fans on social media as they accused the judges of denying India an assured medal at the Paris Olympics.

2008 Beijing Olympics bronze medallist Vijender Singh too, was shocked at the scoring system in the bout. "I don't know what's the scoring system, but I think very close fight..he played so well..koi na bhai #NishantDev," Vijender wrote on X.

Nishant is the fifth Indian boxer to exit the Paris Olympic Games. Tokyo Olympics bronze winner Lovlina Borgohain is the only Indian boxer still in contention. She will be in action in the women's 75kg quarterfinal on Sunday against Asian Games champion Li Qiang. Lovlina, who is aiming to become the first Indian boxer to win two Olympic medals, lost both her previous two bouts against Qiang, but had beaten her to claim the gold medal at the 2023 World Championships.