Shiva Thapa (56kg) became the youngest pugilist from the country to clinch a gold medal at the Asian Championships in Amman, Jordan, on Monday.
The Assam-born pugilist, who made his Olympic debut in London Games last year, pipped home favourite Obada Alkabeh on a split decision of 2-1 to enter the history books following Suranjoy Singh (2009) and Rajkumar Sangwan (1994).
An ecstatic Shiva said after his win: “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.”
Besides the gold, the Indian boxing team — competing under the International Boxing Association’s flag after the national boxing federation was suspended internationally for nearly a year now — bagged two silver and a bronze.
The silver medals came through L. Devendro Singh (49kg) and Mandeep Jangra (69kg), while Manoj Kumar (64kg) had to settle for the bronze.
Gurbax Singh Sandhu, national coach, was quoted as saying: “Shiva fought an excellent bout. He applied his brain and dominated all three rounds. The decision may have been split but he was clearly the better boxer among the two.”
However, for Devendro, it was a disappointment as he went down fighting to Kazakhstan’s Temertas Zhussupov, the Strandja Memorial tournament winner.
Devendro, also a London Olympian, lost on a split decision of 1-2.
“It was a close bout. Devendro fought his heart out and even though he lost, I am satisfied with his performance. To me he is shaping up to be an excellent boxer,” said Sandhu.
“It is a brilliant performance considering the circumstances in Indian boxing . None of my boys disappointed me. Even the ones who lost, gave fine performances, I am very happy,” he added.
Both these boxers are being managed by Anglian Medal-Hunt Company and Olympic Gold Quest.
Mandeep also ended up on the losing side after putting up a gallant fight to settle for silver. He lost to 2010 Asian Games gold-medallist Daniyar Yeleussinov of Kazakhstan.
“Mandeep is very young and inexperienced but he fought well, showed a lot of heart and produced a brilliant performance. Everybody expected his to be a one-sided bout but Mandeep matched his opponent blow for blow,” added Sandhu.