Tokyo, Oct 30
Shiva Thapa (63kg) secured a medal at the Olympics Test event for boxing by winning his quarterfinal bout while six other Indians made the last-4 stage without even stepping inside the ring here.
Thapa overpowered local favourite Yuki Hirakawa in a 5-0 verdict to fight his way into the medal rounds. The seasoned boxer from Assam claimed his third national title earlier this month. He will be up against another Japanese boxer, Daisuke Narimatsu, in the semifinals tomorrow. Narimatsu got a bye in the opening round. However, for his six compatriots, including former junior world champion Nikhat Zareen (51kg), a medal was guaranteed without a fight as they either got byes or were helped by the small size of their respective draws. Apart from Zareen, Sumit Sangwan (91kg), Ashish (69kg), Vanhlimpuia (75kg), Simranjeet Kaur (60kg) and Pooja Rani (75kg) have made the semifinals.
Sangwan will square off against Kazakhstan’s Aibek Oralbay, while Zareen will face Japan’s Sana Kawano and Rani will be up against Brazil’s Beatriz Soares.
Disappointment
The only disappointment for the country’s contingent was the quarterfinal exit of Anant Chopade, who went down 2-3 in a hard-fought contest against local hope Tosho Kashiwasaki.
Budapest: Jhajjar wrestler Ravinder (in pic) entered the final in the 61kg freestyle category in the wrestling U-23 Senior World Championships here today. He edged past Armenia’s Arsen Harutyunyan 4-3 in the semifinals. He will face Kyrgyzstan’s Ulukbek Zholdo shbekov for the title. Earlier, Ravinder beat local hope Marcell Budai Kovacs 12-1 in the pre-quarterfinals and Russia’s Dinislam Takhtarov 11-0 in the quarterfinals. In the 70kg category, Naveen lost 6-8 to Mongolia’s Temuulen Enkhtuya in the repechage round.
