Shiva Thapa Scripts History, Becomes First Male Boxer To Win 6 Medals In Asian Championships

Indian boxer Shiva Thapa, on Sunday, became the first-ever male pugilist to earn six medals in the history of the Asian Championships. The iconic win comes after he out-punched South Korea's Minsu Choi to advance to the semifinals in Jordan's capital Amman.

The 28-year-old (63.5 kg) bested 4-1 over Choi in the light welterweight quarterfinal to claim his sixth consecutive medal and dominated the game from the beginning using his jabs to significant effect.

Thapa's Performance In Ongoing Edition

With the triumph over South Korea, the Assam lad is assured of at least a bronze in the ongoing edition, outperforming his own position as the most successful Indian boxer in the tournament.

He surpassed Kazakhstan's Vassiliy Levit, an Olympic silver medal winner, two-time world bronze medallist, and the only male boxer with five Asian Championship medals.

Thapa's haul includes a gold medal in 2013, two silver in 2017 and 2021, and as many as bronze in 2015 and 2019, reported The Print.

Further, Indian female boxers MC Mary Kom (7) and L Sarita Devi (8) have more Asian medals than Thapa, with the latter having the distinction of earning six successive, five of them gold, at the peak of her prowess.

Know About Shiva Thapa

Shiva Thapa was born on December 8, 1993, to an Indian Gorkha father, Padam Thapa, in Assam's capital Guwahati. His elder brother Gobind Thapa was a state-level medal-winning boxer who inspired him to join boxing.

He began his triumphant sporting career in 2008 at the 2008 Children Asia International Sports Games held in Yakutsk (Russia, and won a bronze in his category. Since then, there has been no turning back for the ace boxer.

Further, on August 28, 2016, he was awarded the Arjuna Award by then-President Pranab Mukherjee for Boxing at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.

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