Thapa wins gold in new weight category

New Delhi, July 20 

Shiva Thapa became India’s first gold medallist at the President’s Cup boxing tournament after getting a walkover in the finals in Astana, Kazakhstan.

Making his international debut in the newly-introduced Olympics category of 63kg, Thapa was to fight Kazakhstan’s Zakir Safiullin in the summit clash but his opponent had to pull out due to an injury. Thapa had lost to Safiullin in the semifinals of the Asian Championships earlier this year. 

Signing off with a silver medal was woman boxer Parveen (60kg) who lost her final bout to local hope Rimma Volosenko. Thapa couldn’t make the cut for the World Championships after losing in the trials to Commonwealth Games silver-winner Manish Kaushik. Thapa had defeated Kyrgyzstan’s Argon Kadiribekuulu 4-1 in the semifinal bout. “Shiva had a great tournament, beating some really fancied opponents. It was an impressive performance,” said India’s High Performance Director Santiago Nieva.

Sweety, Duryodhan settle for bronze

Sweety Boora (81kg) and Duryodhan Singh Negi (69kg) ended their campaign with bronze medals. — PTI