Asian Boxing Championships 2021: Shiva Thapa enters semis, secures his fifth successive medal

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New Delhi, May 25: India boxer Shiva Thapa put up a scintillating performance to outpunch Nader Odah in the men's 64kg quarter-finals at the 2021 ASBC Asian Boxing Championships in Dubai on Tuesday (May 25).

With a comprehensive 5-0 victory against Kuwait's Odah, the Assam boxer progressed into the semi-finals and also confirmed his fifth consecutive medal at the Asian Championships. Previously, Thapa has won one gold (2013), one silver (2017) and two bronze (2015 and 2019) at the Championships.

Showing a fine display of attacking boxing Thapa dominated Odah throughout the bout and hardly gave him an opportunity to score a point. The Indian will have a tough task in the last-4 round as he will take on top-seeded Bakhodur Usmonov of Tajikistan.

Earlier on Day 2 of the prestigious event, which is jointly hosted by the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) and UAE Boxing Federation, Mohammad Hussamuddin went down fighting 1-4 against the reigning world champion and top-seed Mirazizbek Mirzahalilov in the men's 56kg quarter-finals. The defending champion Mirzahalilov started the contest with an aggressive intent and saw landing fierce punches. Hussamuddin however tried to gain momentum with a good defence and counter-attacking punches but the experienced Uzbek boxer did not allow Indian any chance of comeback before completing a 4-1 victory in the close-fought game.

Later tonight, four more Indians will be in action in the quarter-finals. Simranjit Kaur (60kg), Sakshi (54kg), Jasmine (57kg) and Sanjeet (91kg) will look to assure medals for the country in their respective categories.

The third day of the prestigious event, which is jointly hosted by the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) and UAE Boxing Federation, will see India's Olympic-bound men pugilists Amit Panghal, Vikas Krishan and Ashish Kumar kick-starting their campaign alongside two other boxers in the quarter-finals on Wednesday (May 26).

The on-going Championships has been witnessing the presence of 150 boxers from 17 countries including strong boxing nations such as India, Uzbekistan, Philippines and Kazakhstan.