Four-time Asian medallist Shiva Thapa scripted history as he India’s first gold medallist at the President’s Cup boxing tournament after winning the finals in Astana, Kazakhstan on Saturday.
After making his international debut in the newly-introduced Olympic category of 63kg, Thapa was to battle Kazakhstan’s Zakir Safiullin in an intriguing contest but his opponent had to force his way out due to injury.
Thapa lost to Safiullin in the Asian Championship semifinal previously his year.
Signing off with a silver medal was woman boxer Parveen (60kg) who lost her final bout to local hope Rimma Volosenko.
“The new weight category has been easy to adapt. I have not faced too much difficulty. Obviously, there are challenges of facing boxers who are coming from 64kg, given their power but nothing is impossible,” Thapa who is a 60kg category boxer told news agency PTI from Astana.
Thapa failed to make the cut for the September world championships after losing in the trials to Commonwealth Games silver-winner Manish Kaushik.
Thapa got the better of Kyrgyzstan’s Argon Kadiribekuulu 4-1 in the last-four stage bout.
“Shiva had a great tournament, beating some really fancied opponents. It was an impressive performance,” India’s High-Performance Director Santiago Nieva said,
Previously, Sweety Boora (81kg) and Duryodhan Singh Negi (69kg) concluded their campaign by settling for bronze medals in the wake of semifinal defeats.