GUWAHATI: Assam boxer Shiva Thapa is the first Indian to have created history by securing an unprecedented fourth successive medal at the Asian Boxing Championship after beating Thailand’s Rujakran Juntrong 5-0 in a one-sided lightweight (60kg) contest on Tuesday, April 23. Thapa won the gold medal in 2013, bronze in 2015 and silver medal in the 2017 edition of the Asian Boxing Championships.
He has advanced to the semi-finals and has ensured a fourth medal for India at the on-going Asian Boxing Championships 2019, being held at Bangkok in Thailand. Thapa in the semi-finals will fight against Zakir Safiullin from Kazakhstan who is a silver-medallist from the 2015 edition of the championship.
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Former World Champion Sarita Devi (60kg), a boxer from Manipur in North-East India has also been selected for the semi-finals of the Asian Boxing Championship by defeating Kazakhstan’s Rimma Volossenko (60kg). The 37-year-old boxer from Manipur who ended up without a medal at the world championships in New Delhi last year, has made a reversal of sorts in this championship.
Six other Indians have also been registered in the boxing semi-finals at Championship event. Former junior world champion, Nikhat Zareen (51kg) reserved her semi-final wharf at the tournament by beating Kazakhstan’s Nazym Kyzaibay, 2018's silver-medallist, Manisha (54kg) has reached the semi-finals by defeating Filipino’s Petecio Zzaa Nice and former national champion, Simranjit Kaur (64kg) has defeated Ha Thi Linh of Vietnam.
Joining Thapa in the men’s semi-finals will be India’s Ashish Kumar (75kg), who got the better of Kyrgyzstan boxer, Omerbek Uulu Behzhigit; Commonwealth Games silver-medallist Satish Kumar (91kg) and Ashish (69 kg).
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