Shiva Thapa bags historic sixth Asian Championship medal

The pugilist has now joined Mohammad Hussamuddin and Govind Kumar Sahani in the semi-finals.

Shiva Thapa added a historic 6th Asian Championships medal under his belt with a commanding victory and joined Mohammed Hussamuddin and Govind Kumar Sahani in the semi-finals at the 2022 ASBC Asian Elite Boxing Championships in Amman, Jordan on Sunday.

Quick feet, Powerful jabs

Thapa (63.5kg) was contesting the quarter-finals against Minsu Choi of South Korea and began the bout effectively, using his quick feet and powerful jabs to assert control over his opponent. The Indian boxer enhanced his attacking dominance as the game progressed and had Choi on the ropes for the majority of the match.

The match ended in a 4:1 victory for Thapa who now becomes the most successful male boxer in the Asian Championships with 6 competition medals to his name.

Hussamuddin continues winning stride

Two-time Commonwealth Games bronze medalist Hussamuddin (57kg) was up against South Korea's Haengseok Lee in the quarter-final bout. The South Korean started on the front foot in the first round, landing clean punches and keeping his counterpart at bay for the majority of the first round.

With the prospects of an upset looming, the Indian boxer utilised his experience to make an inspired comeback and dismissed any such possibilities. Hussamuddin went all out in the next two rounds to dominate his way to a unanimous 5:0 win.

Ten medals

Govind (48kg) faced Mansour Khalifa of Kuwait in what was his first match of the tournament and the 2022 Thailand Open gold medalist convincingly beat his opponent 5:0 to seal his semi-finals spot.

The trio proliferated India's medal tally at the competition taking the total count to 10 after Minakshi (52kg), Preeti (57kg), Parveen (63kg), Ankushita Boro (66kg) and Lovlina Borgohain (75kg) all guaranteed medals for the country on Saturday.

Saweety (81kg) and Alfiya (+81kg) will begin their campaign from semis and are already assured of a bronze medal at least.

Hussamuddin will face the 2021 World Championships silver medalist Serik Temirzha, Govind will take on Sanzhar Tashkenbay and Thapa will be up against Bakhodur Usmonov in the semi-finals bout on November 10.

Other quarterfinalists

In the other quarter-final, the 2022 Thailand Open gold medalist Ananta Chopade (54kg) bowed out of the competition in spite of his best efforts after suffering a 0:4 defeat against Seidekmatov Sanzhai of Kyrgyzstan.

Later tonight, Amit Kumar (67kg), Monika (48kg) and Simranjit Kaur (60kg) will all be in quarter-finals action.

Late on Saturday night, Ankushita Boro (56kg) and Lovlina Borgohain (75 kg) prevailed against Tsubata Arsia of Japan and Valentina Khalzova of Kazakhstan respectively in their quarter-final bouts and progressed to the semi-finals.

Lovlina who was contesting in the 75kg weight category for the first time at an international tournament had to work hard in what was a fiercely contested bout to earn a 3:2 split decision victory against the 2016 World Champion Khalzova.

Five Indian men pugilists - Narender (+92kg), Naveen Kumar (92kg), Lakshya Chahar (80kg), Sumit (75kg) and Sachin (71kg) will take to the ring tomorrow to compete in the quarter-finals stage.

The competition is witnessing the participation of 267 boxers from 27 top boxing nations.