Shiva Thapa added a historic sixth Asian Championships medal under his belt as he entered the semifinals of the ASBC Asian Elite Boxing Championships with 4:1 win over South Korea’s Minsu Choi in the quarterfinal.
With a win on Sunday night, Thapa becomes the most successful male boxer in the Asian Championships with 6 competition medals to his name.
Thapa (63.5kg), was contesting the quarterfinals against Minsu Choi of South Korea and began the bout effectively, using his quick feet and powerful jabs to assert control over his opponent.
The Indian boxer enhanced his attacking dominance as the game progressed and had Choi on the ropes for majority of the match.
The match ended in a 4:1 victory for Thapa, who joined Mohammed Hussamuddin and Govind Kumar Sahani in the semifinals.
Two time Commonwealth Games bronze medalist Hussamuddin (57kg) was up against South Korea’s Haengseok Lee in the quarterfinal bout. The South Korean started on the front foot in the first round, landing clean punches and keeping his counterpart at bay for the majority of the first round.
With the prospects of an upset looming, the Indian boxer utilised his experience to make an inspired comeback and dismissed any such possibilities. Hussamuddin went all out in the next two rounds to dominate his way to a unanimous 5:0 win.
Govind (48kg) faced Mansour Khalifa of Kuwait in what was his first match of the tournament and the 2022 Thailand Open gold medalist convincingly beat his opponent 5:0 to seal his semifinals spot.
The trio proliferated India’s medal tally at the competition taking the total count to 10 after Minakshi (52kg), Preeti (57kg), Parveen (63kg), Ankushita Boro (66kg) and Lovlina Borgohain (75kg) all guaranteed medals for the country on Saturday.
Hussamuddin will face the 2021 World Championships silver medalist Serik Temirzha, Govind will take on Sanzhar Tashkenbay and Thapa will be up against Bakhodur Usmonov in the semi finals bout on November 10.
Saweety (81kg) and Alfiya (+81kg) will begin their campaign from semis and are already assured of a bronze medal atleast.
In the other quarterfinal, the 2022 Thailand Open gold medalist Ananta Chopade (54kg) bowed out of the competition in spite of his best efforts after suffering a 0:4 defeat against Seidekmatov Sanzhai of Kyrgyzstan.
