National Boxing Championships: Shiva Thapa beats Manish Kaushik, advances to final

2021 Asian champion Sanjeet, bronze medalists Sumit and Narender also win in their categories.

In the highly anticipated semi-finals clash, the record six-time Asian medalist Shiva Thapa proved his mettle by recording a remarkable win against the 2019 World Championships bronze medalist Manish Kaushik and advanced to the final of the 6th Elite Men's National Boxing Championships in Hisar on Thursday.

Having clashed against each other on several occasions in the past, Assam's Thapa and Services Sports Control Board's (SSCB) Kaushik have produced some blockbuster contests with this encounter being no different. Both pugilists started out aggressively from the get-go with neither shying away from showcasing their strength and establishing their dominance over the other. As the bout progressed, Thapa utilized his experience to take charge of the matchup by judging his opponent's attacks smartly to dodge them with his quick feet while landing more accurate punches.

Ultimately, the 2015 World Championship bronze medalist was successful in having the upper hand over Kaushik and registered a resounding 5-0 win by unanimous decision. He will face the 2019 World Youth Championships silver medalist Ankit Narwal who is representing Railways Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) in the finals of the 63.5 kg category.

The 2021 Asian champion Sanjeet (92kg) who is representing SSCB put up a show of strength as he secured a comfortable victory against Ashish Bhandor of Himachal Pradesh. Showcasing his power and supreme technical ability, Sanjeet gave his opponent no chance to comeback in the bout and sealed his place in the finals after the referee stopped contest (RSC) in the second round.

Sanjeet's SSCB teammates, the 2022 Asian Championships bronze medalists Sumit (75kg) and Narender (+92kg) reigned supreme in their semis bouts with 5:0 triumphs. While Sumit defeated Tinderpal Singh of Punjab, Narender won against Jaipal Singh of Punjab and advanced to the finals.

Representing RSPB, Sagar (+92kg) was squaring off against Akash of Delhi. The 2022 Commonwealth Games silver medalist made lightwork of his opponent and will be going head-to-head against Narender in the finals.

Meanwhile, Abhinash Jamwal of Himachal Pradesh stunned the 2022 Commonwealth Games bronze medalist Rohit Tokas of RSPB in the 67 kg semi-finals. The closely contested bout saw both pugilists give it their all but Jamwal's determination helped him edge out his counterpart and secure a 4-3 win after the bout was reviewed. He will face Akash of SSCB in his final bout.

Two-time Commonwealth Games bronze medalist Mohammad Hussamuddin who is representing SSCB blanked Ashish Kumar of Himachal Pradesh to win by unanimous decision. He will take on Sachin of RSPB in the finals of the 57 kg category.

The RSPB duo of Govind Sahani (48kg) and Varinder Singh (60kg) secured their berths in the final with identical 5-0 wins over Neeraj Swami of Delhi and Suni Chouhan of Uttar Pradesh respectively.