Boxing: Thapa bags gold as Devendro, Jangra win silver

Olympian and 2012 Asian Olympic Qualifying tournament gold medallist Shiva Thapa (56kg) reasserted his stature as one of the rising stars of Indian Boxing with a gold medal winning performance in the title round of the ASBC Asian Confederation Boxing Championship at Amman. 19-year-old Thapa, making his second international appearance since the 2012 London Olympics – beat Malbekov Omurbek from Kyrgyzstan to make his place in the finals of the championship. In the title bout, he did not just have to contend with Obada Alkabeh, but also a fierce home support for the local lad. However, there was disappointment for L Devendro Singh (49kg) as he came agonisingly close to claiming the gold in the finals of the light fly weight division. The 21-year-old had to contend with the power hitting from Temertas Zhussupov of Kazakhstan. In the end though, he had to be content with a silver medal after losing on a split decision. [caption id=“attachment_939423” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Thapa (L) with his gold medal. IBF Media[/caption] National Games bronze medallist Mandeep Jangra (69kg) also had to make do with a silver medal after losing out to 2010 Asian Games gold medallist Daniyar Yeleussinov of Kazakhstan in the finals of the welter weight category. Jangra fought well but was not able to break the solid guard of the Kazakh boxer. The superior technique of Yeleussinov proved to be too good for the Indian and in the end he lost on a unanimous decision. Thapa had made a strong start, aggressively trying to put the Jordanian boxer on the back foot. In the second round Alkabeh replied with some attacking combinations of his own, but Shiva was relentless and gained the advantage with his counter attacks. In the end he went on to bag the gold medal with a hard fought victory on a split decision from the judges. The gold medal win at Amman is a career highlight for the boxer from Assam, who has seen off some tough opponents in the tournament. An elated Shiva, after winning the continental title, said: “This is a very rewarding win for me. I have been training very hard to make sure I perform to best of my ability and I am very happy to have won the Asian Champion title.” National Coach GS Sandhu was all praise for the way Shiva fought: “Shiva is a very perceptive boxer and has the ability to quickly adapt his game according to that of his opponent. He also possesses some great fire power which we saw in abundance today. I am very pleased to see him win the continental title, which will also be a great boost for his confidence and in his preparations for the World Championships.” The Indian boxers return from the tournament with four medals (one gold, two silvers and a bronze). Earlier in the championship, Commonwealth Games gold medallist Manoj Kumar (64kg) lost out to London Olympics bronze medallist Uranchimegiin Monkh-Erdene of Mongolia in the semi-finals of the light welter weight division.