Shiva Thapa’s Asian Championship campaign came to an end when he was forced to pull out of his final bout due to injury and settle for a silver medal in Amman, Jordan on Saturday.
The 28-year-old male boxer had injured his right knee in the opening seconds of the second round of the light welterweight gold medal bout in the 63.5kg category, losing by RSC (referee stops contest) against Abdullaev Ruslan of Uzbekistan. ,
Third seed Thapa was trailing when he got injured. He was defeated 0–5 in a fast-paced opening round.
In the opening three minutes, both boxers tried to assert their authority, even resorting to body blows with Uzbek coming out on top.
Trying to make ground in the second round, Thapa fell to the canvas after exchanging a few punches.
He managed to get up without any assistance as the referee gave a count but the Indian was visibly in pain as play was halted.
Thapa received medical attention when the ringside doctor examined his right knee.
Eventually, the bout was called off after Thapa faltered.
The veteran boxer even struggled to stand when the referee declared the winner.
The final was like an anticlimax in an otherwise flawless campaign by Thapa.
His haul now includes one gold (2013), three silver (2017, 2021 and 2022) and two bronze medals (2015 and 2019).
With the silver, Thapa surpassed Olympic silver medalist and two-time world bronze medalist Kazakh legend Vasily Levit as the only other male boxer with five Asian Championship medals.
Six-time world champions MC Mary Kom (7) and L Sarita Devi (8) have more Asian medals than Thapa, the latter holding the distinction of winning six consecutive medals, five of them gold, at the peak of their prowess. Were.
Indian boxers returned with 12 medals, including four gold, two silver and six bronze.
gold medalist:
- Lovlina Borgohain (75 kg)
- Alfia Pathan (+81kg)
- Sweety Boora (81 kg)
- Parveen Hooda (63kg)
Silver Medalist:
- Meenakshi (52 kg)
- Shiva Thapa (63.5 kg)
Bronze Medalist:
- Ankushita Boro (66kg)
- Preeti Dahiya (57kg)
- Narendra (+92 kg)
- Sumit (75 kg)
- Mohammad Husamuddin (57kg)
- Govind Kumar Sahni (48kg)
(Inputs from PTI)