Amman: Young Indian boxer Olympian Shiva Thapa (56kg) bagged the gold beating local hope Obada Alkabeh in the final of the ASBC Asian Confederation Boxing Championship.
But there was disappointment for Devendro Singh (49kg) and Mandeep Jangra (69kg) who came agonisingly close to claiming the gold but had to settle for silver.
In the title bout, the 19-year-old Thapa did not just have to contend with Alkabeh, but also fierce home support for the local lad. Thapa made a strong start, landing some cracking hooks and continued to be aggressive trying to put the Jordanian boxer on the back foot.
In the second round, Alkabeh replied with some aggressive combinations of his own, but Thapa was relentless and gained the advantage with his precise counter-attacks. In the end, he went on to bag the gold medal with a hard-fought victory on a split decision from the judges.
"This is a very rewarding win for me. I have been training very hard to make sure I perform to best of my ability and I am very happy to have won the Asian Champion title," said Thapa.
National coach G.S. Sandhu was all praise for the way Thapa fought.
