Tashkent: Indian boxer Shiva Thapa made a stunning exit from the Men's World Championships even as two other pugilists progressed to the pre-quarter finals here on Thursday.
Shiva (63.5kg), the 2015 bronze medallist who had received a bye in the first round, went down fighting 3-4 to Dos Reis Yuri of Brazil, with the final decision been announced after a bout review.Narender Berwal (+92kg), and Govind Sahani (48kg) advanced to the pre-quarterfinals while promising pugilist Deepak Kumar (51kg), who is competing in Amit Panghal's weight class, also progressed to the Round of 32.Shiva, who was seeded second, did well to recover from his sluggish start that cost him the first round 1- 4.
Thapa was proactive in the second and third round, landing lusty blows. He jabbed and used his hooks and upper cuts to take the second round with a 3-2 margin.He looked on course for a win but faltered in the final two minutes that probably cost him the bout as he failed to get the majority vote in the review. With a quarterfinal finish at the previous World Championships under his belt, Narender began his quest for a medal by defeating Muhammad Abroridinov of Tajikistan 4-1.Both pugilists, who won bronze at the 2022 Asian Championships, went all out from the beginning in the neckand-neck bout. Narender landed powerful punches and dodged his opponent's attacks from close range to have the upper hand in the first round.
The Hisar-born pugilist continued to attack on the front foot in the next two rounds and won the bout. He will face the 2021 World Youth Championships bronze medallist Fernando Arzola of Cuba in the quarterfinals.Earlier in the day, 2022 Thailand Open champion Govind (48kg) and 2019 Asian silver medallist Deepak (51kg) kicked off their respective campaigns with identical victories.Govind, who has had an outstanding year so far with a gold at the National Championships and a silver at the 74th Strandja Memorial, continued his rich vein of form as he made light work of Mehron Shafiev of Tajikistan to secure a 5-0 win.
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