Indian boxer Shiva Thapa ended up with a silver medal in the 60-kg category at the Asian Boxing Championships in Tashkent. Thapa also became the first boxer from the country to win medals at three consecutive championships.
Thapa, the fourth seed, had almost completed the first round of his final fight against second-seeded Elnur Abduraimov after a headbutt by the Uzbeki boxer had caused a gash to appear in the Indian’s forehead. The referee stopped the fight after which Thapa lost by a split verdict from the judges.
The silver medallist had started his campaign against Kyrgyzstan’s Omurbek Malabekov and had won by a score of 4 to 1 in the pre-quarterfinals. Taipei’s Lai Chu-En was defeated next by a score of 5 to nothing as Thapa marched into the semifinals.
In the semifinals, Thapa just edged past Olympic bronze medallist, Mongolia’s Dorjnyambuu Otgondalai by a score of 3 to 2 to make the finals.
India had won four medals at the previous championships in Bangkok, Thailand as Thapa had claimed the bronze in the 56-kg bantamweight category, an event in which he had won the gold two years earlier in the 2013 AIBA championships held in Amman, Jordan.