Shiva, Sumit in final; Vikas settles for bronze at Asian Championship

Fourth seed Shiva Thapa (60kg) stunned Olympic bronze-medallist and top seed Dorjnyambuug Otgondalai of Mongolia to enter the Asian Boxing Championships final here on Friday.

Shiva Thapa will next be up against Uzbekistan’s Elnur Abduraimov, who defeated China’s Jun Shan in his semifinal bout.

Fourth seed Shiva Thapa (60kg) and unseeded Sumit Sangwan (91kg) continued to pack a powerful punch for India at the Asian Boxing Championships, advancing to the final with contrasting victories here on Friday.

While Shiva stunned Olympic bronze-medallist and top seed Dorjnyambuug Otgondalai of Mongolia in a split verdict, Sumit stormed past second seed Tajik Jakhon Qurbonov in the semifinal.

However, middleweight (75kg) top seed Vikas Krishan and Amit Phangal (49kg) settled for bronze medals. While Vikas gave a walkover to fourth-seeded Korean Lee Dongyun, Amit lost 0—5 to top seed and reigning Olympic champion Hasanboy Dusmatov. “Vikas Krishan was not there in the weigh-in this morning, therefore his South Korean opponent walked over to the final,” an Asian Boxing Confederation official said.

It is not yet known as to why Vikas gave a walkover in the bout. The day, however, belonged to Shiva, who notched up a massive win. The Indian, who is also a World Championships bronze-medallist prevailed in a split verdict against the Mongolian, who is also an Asian Games gold-medallist.

Shiva will next be up against Uzbekistan’s Elnur Abduraimov, who defeated China’s Jun Shan in his semifinal bout. Shiva, a two-time Olympian, was off to a guarded start and spent some time getting measure of his rival. In fact, both the boxers seemed hesitant to launch the first attack in the opening three minutes.

However, the Indian shifted gears in the second round and dominated with combination punches, which scored on both accuracy and impact.

The third round was a more evenly-matched affair with Mongolian also hitting the aggressive mode. But Shiva’s sharp reflexes helped him stave off the challenge and get a favourble verdict after an exhausting contest. The 23-year-old Assam boxer had won India’s last gold medal at the event in 2013 when he was competing in the bantamweight category. He is now one win away from becoming the first Indian boxer to claim two Asian Championship gold medals.

He had won a bronze medal in the 2015 edition in the same weight category. This is his maiden medal-winning international performance in the lightweight division, to which he shifted last year in December.