Asian Boxing Championship: India confirmed two silver; wins bronze in 75 kg event

Shiva Thapa, Robeisy Ramirez
Shiva Thapa has reached the final of Asian Boxing Championship. Image Source: newsdog.today

Internet Desk: Shiva Thapa(60kg) the world’s fourth ranked Boxer defeated the world ranked one and Olympic bronze medalist Dorjnyambuug Otgondalai of Mongolia and stormed into the Asian Boxing Championships finals on Friday.

Sumit Sangwan (91kg) too entered the finals after defeating world’s ranked two Tajik Jakhon Qurbonov.

Vikas Krishan had to be contented with a bronze medal after he gave a walkover in the semi final to Lee Dongyun of Korea.

However, middleweight (75kg) top seed Vikas Krishan settled for a bronze medal after he gave a walkover in the semifinal to fourthseeded Korean Lee Dongyun.

“Vikas Krishan was not there in the weighin today morning, therefore his South Korean opponent walked over to the final,” an Asian Boxing Confederation official told PTI.

It is not yet known as to why Vikas gave a walkover in the bout.

The day, however, belonged to Shiva, who notched up a massive win.

Shiva who is a bronze-medalist at the World Championship won in a split verdict in the match.

Shiva’s final bout will be against Elnur Abduraimov of Uzbekistan.

Shiva, a two-time Olympian, was off to a guarded start and spent some time getting measure of his rival.

In fact, both the boxers seemed hesitant to launch the first attack in the opening three minutes.

However, the Indian shifted gears in the second round and dominated with combination punches, which scored on both accuracy and impact.

The third round was a more evenly-matched affair with Mongolian also hitting the aggressive mode. But Shiva’s sharp reflexes helped him stave off the challenge and get a favourble verdict after an exhausting contest.

The 23-year-old Assam boxer had won India’s last gold medal at the event in 2013 when he was competing in the bantamweight category. He is now one win away from becoming the first Indian boxer to claim two Asian Championship gold medals.

He had won a bronze medal in the 2015 edition in the same weight category. This is his maiden medal-winning international performance in the lightweight division, to which he shifted last year in December.

With inputs from PTI.