Almaty (Kazakhstan): Rising Indian boxer Shiva Thapa (56kg) and Commonwealth Games gold-medallist Manoj Kumar (64kg) endured draining contests but came out triumphant to enter the quarterfinals on a bittersweet day for India in the World Boxing Championships, here on Monday.
Both the boxers came back after being down a round to outwit their respective rivals.
While Asian champion and fourth seed Shiva got the better of Argentina’s Alberto Melian 2-1, sixth seed Manoj beat Canada’s Yves Ulysse by the same margin.
However, former cadet world champion Thokchom Nanao Singh (49kg) and Asian Games silver-medallist Manpreet Singh bowed out of the event after losing their pre-quarterfinal bouts to more fancied opponents.
Nanao lost 0-3 to eighth seed Anthony Chacon Rivera of Puerto Rico, while Manpreet went down to top seed Teymur Mammadov by the same margin.
Shiva will face Azerbaijan’s Javid Chalabiyev in the quarterfinals, while Manoj will be up against Cuba Yasnier Lopez, who stunned third-seeded Russian Armen Zakaryan.
A win in the quarters, scheduled for Wednesday, will assure both of at least a bronze medal in the mega-event.
“It was a very tough bout and took a lot out of me but I somehow pulled through,” Shiva told PTI as he caught his breath after the draining contest.
Shiva, a silver medallist at the 2010 Youth Olympics, faced an opponent whose tactics were not too different from his own.
“I tried to play it cool in the opening round and it could have gone either ways because we were quite similar in our style. It was a 50-50 thing. He clinched it and I increased my tempo in the next two rounds,” Shiva said.
It was a draining bout for Nanao as well, but his coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu took heart from the Manipur boxer’s performance.
“Nanao also boxed very well but I guess the other guy managed to get ahead because of some uppercuts that he connected very clearly,” Sandhu said.
“I think Nanao was very good with his overall technique but then it happens,” he added.
The Manipuri-lad, a former cadet world champion besides being an Asian Championships silver-medallist, lost 0-3 on points.
Rivera was warned once in the third round but that could not help Nanao’s cause.