Shiva becomes youngest Indian boxer to qualify for Olympics

April 11, 2012 06:08 pm | Updated November 16, 2021 11:37 pm IST - New Delhi

Shiva Thapa (56kg) on Wednesday became the youngest Indian boxer to make the cut for the Olympics by reaching the final, but the already—qualified Vijender Singh (75kg) bowed out after losing in the last—four stage of the Asian Qualifiers’ in Astana, Kazakhstan on Wednesday.

The 18—year—old Shiva defeated Japan’s Satoshi Simizu 31—17 to enter the final and book a London berth.

“It was a superb performance. He was down a point in the first round due to overt aggression, but did not panic and played from medium range in the next two rounds to win and win big,” national coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu told PTI from Astana.

“Most of his points came through right straight punches,” he added.

A 19—year—old L Devendro Singh had booked his London berth in the last year’s World Championships, tying with Debendra Singh (1996 Atlanta) as the youngest Indian boxer to make the Olympics. But the 1993—born Shiva has broken this record.

The Assam teenager, playing only his second senior international event (he won a gold in the maiden), was down 6—7 in the opening round.

But he turned the tables in the second round, taking a massive 15—6 lead. The final three minutes followed a similar script as Shiva clinched it with ease.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.