Shiva Thapa proves his mettle, marches into the final of the elite men’s national boxing championship

Assam’s six-time Asian championship medal winner, Shiva Thapa, proved his mettle in the semifinals of the sixth elite men’s national boxing championship being held in Hisar. On Thursday, the 29-year-old Thapa defeated arch-rival and Tokyo Olympian Manish Kaushik 5-0 to march into the final of the 63.5kg event.

In a mouth-watering semifinal, Thapa took time to settle down and scored vital points on a regular basis to deny his younger rival a chance to take control of the bout.

As the bout progressed, Thapa smartly dodged Kaushik’s aggressive moves to stay on course for the title.

Winning a semifinal bout against an experienced rival like Kaushik was half the job done for Thapa. In the title clash, he will face another youngster, Ankit Narwal, the 2019 World Youth silver medallist.

Rohit Tokas, the 2022 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist wasn’t lucky on Thursday. Tokas lost 3-4 to Abhinash Jamwal of Himachal Pradesh in the semifinals of the 67kg. Jamwal will face Akash of the Services Sports Control Board (SSCB) in the final.

SSCB pugilists also dominated the heavyweight division. Sanjeet, the 2021 Asian champion, comfortably won his 92kg semifinal bout. Ashish Bhandor of Himachal Pradesh was no match for his experienced SSCB rival and bowed out in the second round as the referee stopped the contest.

Sanjeet’s teammates Sumit and Narender also moved into the finals of their respective weight groups. In the semis, Sumit, the 2022 Asian Championship bronze medallist, beat Tinderpal Singh 5-0, while Narender beat Jaipal Singh of Punjab by an identical margin.

As expected, two-time Commonwealth bronze medallist Mohammad Hussamuddin of SSCB also entered the final of the 57kg. Railway's Govind Sahani moved into the final of the 48kg, while Varinder Singh entered the final of the 60kg final.

Finals in all the weight categories will be held on Friday.