Shiva settles for silver at Asian Boxing
tashkent — Fourth seed Shiva Thapa (60kg) settled for a silver medal at the Asian Boxing Championships after an injuryforced loss in the final here on Saturday, becoming the first Indian to claim three back-to-back medals at the continental showpiece.
Shiva, up against second seed and local favourite Elnur Abduraimov, lost in a split verdict after a head-butt from his opponent resulted in a cut.
It was in the final few seconds of the opening round when Shiva sustained the cut, forcing a stoppage by the referee.
The disappointment of missing out on the gold aside, the silver is his third successive medal at the continental showpiece after a gold in 2013 and a bronze in the 2015 edition.
“I am happy to have achieved the twin targets of a medal as well as qualification for the World Championships. This is my first international medal in lightweight and I always had the self-belief that I could achieve it,” the Indianboxer told PTI.
The Assam-pugilist, a World Championships bronze- medallist in bantamweight (56kg), shifted to lightweight in December last year. He went on to win a gold medal at the National Championships before a couple of early losses in tournaments in Bulgaria and Thailand.
“It was a big decision and I am glad I have managed to prove myself. I was very clear that I wanted to compete in lightweight and even though it didn’t go quite well in a couple of tournaments, I knew I could do it,” he said.
The 23-year-old defeated Olympic bronze-medallist, Asian Games gold-medallist and top seed Dorjnyambuu Otgondalai of Mongolia in the semifinal yesterday, during which he also sustained a cut above his eye.
“Obviously when you are competing against an established name, a few things play on your mind but then once you enter the ring, you have to block it out,” he said. — PTI