Tashkent: Fourth seed Shiva Thapa (60kg) settled for a silver medal at the Asian Boxing Championships after an injury-forced loss in the final here Saturday. Shiva, however became the first Indian to claim three back-to-back medals at the continental showpiece. He had won gold in the 2013 edition and a bronze in 2015.
The Indian 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 in the closing stages of the first round. It forced the referee to stop the fight for a few minutes.
“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,” Shiva told this agency.
The Assam-pugilist, a World Championships bronze medallist in bantamweight (56kg), shifted to lightweight in December last year.
“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,” stated Shiva.
“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 added.
There was also some disappointment for India with Gaurav Bidhuri (56kg) losing his box-off for a World Championship slot to Japan’s Ryomei Tanaka in a split verdict.
PTI
