Shiva Thapa One Win Away To Become 1st Indian Boxer To Clinch 2 World Championships Medals

Assam's ace boxer Shiva Thapa (63.5kg) who entered the quarterfinals at the 2021 AIBA Men's Boxing Championships in Belgrade, Serbia late on Monday, will take on Turkey's Kerem Oezmen on Tuesday. Thapa is one win away from becoming the first Indian male boxer to claim two World Championships medals

Shiva Thapa, a five-time medallist at the Asian Boxing Championships and bronze medallist at the 2015 World Championships, defeated France's Lounes Hamraoui 4-1 in a highly entertaining bout.

Besides Shiva Thapa, earlier on Monday, four Indian Boxers ended their campaign with defeats in the pre-quarter finals.

Rohit Mor (57kg) lost 1-4 to Kazakhstan's Serik Temirzhanov, while Akash (67 kg) went down 0-5 to Cuba's Kevin Brown. Sumit (75kg) fought valiantly against Cuba's Yoenlis Hernandez, but that wasn't enough as he ended up losing 0-5.Asian silver medallist Deepak (51 kg) also bowed out of his maiden World Championships, losing his bout to Tokyo Olympic Bronze medallist Saken Bibssinov of Kazakhstan.

Apart from Thapa, four Indian boxers will have their quarterfinal matches later tonight. Akash Kumar (54kg) will square off with Rio Olympic silver medallist, Venezuela's Yoel Finol. Nishant Dev (71kg) will face Russia's Vadim Musaev, while Narender Berwal (+92kg) will take on Azerbaijan's Mahammad Abdullayev.The 2021 Asian Champion, Sanjeet (92kg), a quarterfinalist at the 2019 World Championships, will be up against Italy's Aziz Abbes Mouhiidine.