Boxing, men’s nationals: Shiva Thapa, Manish Kaushik set up high profile semifinal clash

Record six-time Asian medalist Shiva Thapa and 2019 World Championships bronze medalist Manish Kaushik produced power packed performances on the fifth day and will face each other in the semi-finals of the 6th Elite Men’s National Boxing Championships in Hisar.

Thapa (63.5kg) who is representing Assam hardly secured a 5:0 victory by unanimous decision against Ashutosh Kumar of Punjab. The 2015 World Championships bronze medallist Kaushik (63.5kg) who is representing Services Sports Control Board also won against Rohit Ningehougan Singh of Manipur by unanimous decision.

Thapa and Kaushik will take to the ring against each other in a highly anticipated semi final encounter and give it their all to secure their berth in the final.

Meanwhile, Railway Sports Promotion Board’s Varinder Singh (60kg) outperformed 2018 Commonwealth Games champion Gaurav Solanki of Haryana to secure a dominant 5:0 win. The 2021 Asian Championships bronze medalist will take on Sunil Chouhan of Uttar Pradesh in his semis bout.

Another RSPB pugilist, Rohit Tokas (67kg) produced a stellar display to triumph over Nishchaya of All India Police. The 2022 Commonwealth Games bronze medalist made lightwork of his opponent to win 5:0. He will face Abhinash Jamwal of Himachal Pradesh in the semi finals.

Two-time Commonwealth Games bronze medalist Mohammad Hussamuddin (57kg) of SSCB got the better of Manish Rathod of Uttar Pradesh with a 5:0 triumph and sealed his place in the final four. He will take on the 2019 Asian Championships silver medalist Ashish Kumar of Himachal Pradesh in his semis bout.

The 2022 Asian Championships bronze medalist duo of Govind Sahani (48kg) and Sumit (75kg) also cruised through to the semi-finals. While Govind defeated Vikash Singh of Uttar Pradesh with a 5-0 scoreline, Sumit secured a comfortable victory against Gourav Dabas of Delhi after the referee stopped contest in the first round.

A total of 386 boxers across 13 different weight categories are participating in the championships.

All the semi finals will be played on Thursday.