Shiva Thapa, Mohammed Hussamuddin among six Indians to enter finals of GeeBee Boxing tournament in Finland

New Delhi: There was no stopping the Indian juggernaut as Shiva Thapa and Mohammed Hussamuddin, along with four others, advanced to the finals of the 38th GeeBee Boxing Tournament in Helsinki, Finland. [caption id=“attachment_3152140” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo of Shiva Thapa. PTI[/caption] Thapa (60kg), a three-time Asian medallist besides being a former bronze-winner at the world championships, out-punched Russia’s Mikhail Varlamov to notch up a 5-0 triumph. The Assamese boxer has set up a summit showdown with local favourite Arslan Khataev. Signing off with bronze medals after semifinal losses were Sumit Sangwan (91kg) and former youth world champion Sachin Siwach (52kg). It will be a rare all-Indian final in the 56kg category with Hussamuddin taking on Kavinder Singh Bisht, a world championship quarterfinalist. Commonwealth Games bronze-medallist Hussamuddin pulled off a narrow 3-2 triumph over Kazakhstan’s Zhanbolat Kydyrbayev, while Bisht got the better of Frenchman Jordan Rodriquez to make the finals. Also advancing to the last-two stage were Dinesh Dagar (69kg), Naveen Kumar (+91kg), and rookie Govind Sahani (49kg). Dagar, a silver-medallist from last year’s India Open, fetched a split 4-1 verdict over Sergei Sobylinski of Russia. He will be facing Commonwealth Games gold-medallist England Pat McCormack in the finals. McCormack is also a two-time European silver-medallist. Naveen also won 4-1 against Australia’s Justis Huni and will fight for gold against England’s Frazer Clarke. Sahani was more dominant in his 5-0 triumph over Russia’s Artysh Sojan. He will square off against Thailand’s Thitisan Panmod in his summit showdown. However, Sangwan lost 0-5 to England’s Chevon Clarke, while Sachin was defeated 1-4 by Kyrgyzstan’s Azat Usenaliev.