Shiva Thapa confirmed his fifth medal
India’s Shiva Thapa has reached the semi-finals of the 64kg weight category of the 2021 ASBC Asian Women’s and Men’s Boxing Championships released in Dubai. With this, Shiva has confirmed a medal for himself. Siva defeated Nader Odah of Kuwait 5–0 unilaterally and clinched his fifth medal at the Asian Championships. Siva has previously won one gold, one silver and two bronze medals.
27-year-old Siva has secured a second medal in Lightweight. Earlier in 2019, Siva won a bronze medal in Bangkok. Siva won a bronze medal in Bangkok in 2015 but the medal came in the bantamweight category.
Earlier, Siva won a silver medal in Tashkent in 2017 at Bantamweight. In this category, Shiva has also won gold in Amman in 2013. Siva also has a 2015 World Championship bronze medal.
It remains to be seen whether Shiva can change the color of his medals in lightweight. If he wins in the semi-finals, he will surely succeed in doing so, but for this, Siva will have to defeat Bakodur Usmanov of Top Seed Tajikistan.
In the first match played, Mohammad Hussamuddin of India lost in the 56 kg category quarter-finals to the reigning world champion Mirajbekbek Mirzahalilov of Uzbekistan. In the first round, Hussamuddin defeated Kazakhstan’s Makhmud Sebirk in the 56 kg weight category unilaterally 5- They were defeated by 0 but could not survive the top seed challenge in the quarter-finals and were eliminated from the tournament after losing the 1–4 split decision.
This prestigious Asia Championship released in Dubai is being jointly hosted by the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) and the UAE Boxing Federation. Apart from Hussamuddin and Shiva tonight, four other Indian boxers will compete in the quarter-finals of this prestigious event. These include women boxer Simranjit Kaur (60 kg), Sakshi (54 kg), Jasmine (57 kg) and male boxer Sanjeet (91 kg). All of them will try to secure medals for the country in their respective categories.
Initially more than 27 countries were expected to participate in this tournament. Due to recently imposed travel restrictions, however some countries could not participate in it. In this event, 150 boxers from 17 countries, including strong boxing countries like India, Uzbekistan, Philippines and Kazakhstan, will try to prove their superiority.
In the previous edition of the championship held in Bangkok in 2019, the Indian team achieved unprecedented success, winning 13 medals, including two golds.
