Thapa enters final of President's Cup

Four-time Asian medallist Shiva Thapa made an impressive debut in the newly-introduced 63kg category, advancing to the finals of the President's Cup boxing tournament in Astana, Kazakhstan on Friday. Thapa, who couldn't make the cut for the world championships after losing in the trials, defeated Kyrgyzstan's Argon Kadiribekuulu 4-1 in the last-four stage bout.

Joining him in the final was woman boxer Parveen (60kg), who got the better of local favourite Karina Ibragimova. Thapa endured an intense contest in which he was trailing in the opening three minutes before bouncing back strongly to emerge triumphant.

"I was aggressive in the first round, changed gears to go counter-attacking in the next and finally, in the last round, I was happy to move around smartly and let him do the chasing," he told PTI from Astana. Asked about the disappointment of missing out on the world championship, the Assam boxer said he would rather focus on improving himself. The former world bronze-medallist was pipped by Commonwealth Games silver-medallist Manish Kaushik in the trials.

"My job is to fight at my best, I did that at the trials. Results are something that I can't control so I try not to think about them and focus on constantly improving myself," he said. "Who knows what bigger opportunities await and dwelling on what did not happen would come in the way of me making the best of them," he added.

Two Indian boxers, Duryodhan Singh Negi (69kg) and Saweety Boora (81kg) ended with bronze medals after losing their semifinal bouts. Asian Games gold-medallist Amit Panghal (52kg), however, bowed out without a medal after losing in the quarterfinals.