It was a disappointing first session for Indian boxers in the World Championships quarter-finals, on Wednesday, as the seeded duo of Asian champion Shiva Thapa (56kg) and Commonwealth Games gold-medallist Manoj Kumar (64kg) lost, and Satish Kumar (+91kg) was declared medically unfit.
While fourth seed Shiva went down to Azerbaijan's Javid Chalabiyev, sixth seed Manoj was beaten by Cuba's Yasnier Lopez. Both lost 0-3.
Satish, on the other hand, having received a cut above his right eye during Tuesday’s pre-quarter-final win, was ruled out, giving London Olympics bronze-medallist and local hero Ivan Dychko a walkover into the semi-finals.
Shiva was the first to take the ring. He made an energetic start, displaying fine ring craft to wriggle out when cornered, but better aggression got Chalabiyev the judges' approval with a 30-28 verdict in the first round.
In the second, both boxers tried to counter-attack but ended up clinging and holding each other for most of the time. There was hardly any aggression on display but Chalabiyev scored more points.
In the final three minutes, Shiva tried to go all out and did connect some clear blows but Chalabiyev mostly indulged in clinging.
The Azerbaijan boxer was cautioned quite a few times for his tactics but with a 2-0 cushion to fall back on, he decided to play it safe.
"It is disappointing but hopefully Shiva will learn from this experience. There was nothing extraordinary about the Azerbaijan boy, he was just a normal counter-puncher," national coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu said.
Next man in Manoj put up a valiant fight against Cuba's Olympic bronze-medallist Yasnier Lopez in all the three rounds but still ended up on the losing side.
"Manoj boxed mostly on the long and medium range and gave his best. It was a good performance even though he lost," Sandhu said.
"He gave a very good account of himself in the bout," he added.
Image: Shiva Thapa
