New Delhi: Seasoned boxer Shiva Thapa started his campaign at the 2021 AIBA World Boxing Championships with an easy win in Belgrade, Serbia on Tuesday.
The bronze medal winner of the 2015 edition and reigning national champion, Shiva Thapa looked in good touch against Kenya’s Victor Nyadera in the 63.5kg round-of-64 match. With technical supremacy, the boxer from Assam kept control over his opponent throughout the bout before recording a victory by a unanimous margin.
With this victory, the five-time Asian Championships medallist Shiva Thapa also extended India’s unbeaten run at the prestigious tournament after Rohit Mor and Akash Sangwan won their respective opening round bouts on Day 1. Thapa will now take on Sierra Leone’s John Brown in the Last-32 clash on Saturday.
Later on Tuesday, three more Indians will be seen in action in their respective opening round matches. While Narender (+92kg) will fight against Poland’s Oskar Safaryan, Sumit (75kg) will take on Damon O’Neill of Jamaica.
On the other hand, Deepak Bhoria (51kg) will have a comparatively difficult challenge in his opening round match. He will start off against two-time Asian champion Azat Usenaliev of Kyrgyzstan on Tuesday.
A 13-member Indian contingent has been competing at the 21st edition of the tournament. There are 650 top boxers from more than 100 countries. The championships is being played in 13 weight categories as per AIBA’s newly introduced weight divisions.
The gold medallists of each category will receive $100,000. Silver and bronze medallists will be given $50,000 and $25,000 respectively. Alongside an enormous prize pool of $2.6 million, AIBA will also award the winners with designed medals, made of solid gold and silver respectively, and belts to commemorate their accomplishments.
