Indian boxers to return after tasting success at ASBC Asian Boxing Championship

Shiva Thapa (center) at the Medal Ceremony

Olympian and 2012 Asian Olympic Qualifying tournament gold medalist Shiva Thapa (56kg) joined the elite club of Indian boxers credited with winning an Asian Championship gold medal after being crowned the Continental Champion.

The 19 year old bagged the gold medal in the bantam weight division at the ASBC Asian Confederation Boxing Championship at Amman Jordon on Monday (08 July 2013). Thapa did not just overcome a stiff challenge from Obada Alkabeh of Jordon in the finals, but also stunned an extremely loud and vocal home support for the local lad.

The Assamese boxer’s performance throughout the tournament was of a very high standard and he completely deserved winning the continental title.

Olympian L Devendro Singh (49kg) and Limassol Boxing Cup Champion Mandeep Jangra (69kg) return from the tournament with a silver medal performance. Both the boxers gave a good fight to their respective opponents in the finals, but came up short in the end and had to be content with a second place on the podium.

While Mandeep lost to Asian Games gold medalist Daniyar Yeleussinov of Kazakhstan, Devendro went down against Temertas Zhussupov also of Kazakhstan. Commonwealth Games gold medalist Manoj Kumar (64kg) lost out to London Olympics bronze medalist Uranchimegiin Monkh-Erdene of Mongolia in the semi-finals of the light welter weight division and had to make do with a bronze medal.

The Indian boxers return home from the tournament on Wednesday (10 July 2013) with a four medal haul (1 gold medal, 2 silver medals and 1 bronze medal) that saw them finish joint second along with Uzbekistan in the overall rankings of the Asian Championships.