Minu Gurung and Bhupendra Thapa delivered unexpected gold medals for Nepal at the South Asian Games where India claimed six titles on Day4
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The first part of the finals was held in the fourth competition day of the 13th edition of the South Asian Games was held in the capital city of Nepal in Kathmandu. Following the session, eight champions have been crowned in Nepal’s capital where six Indians celebrated their titles. The host nation’s Minu Gurung and Bhupendra Thapa have done big sensations against top rivals achieving two gold medals for Nepal.
Altogether 24 female and 49 male boxers will be attending in the multisport event in Kathmandu. Nepal hosted the South Asian Games in Kathmandu in 1999 and after 20 years of break the event returned to their capital city. The last edition of the South Asian Games was held in Shillong, India on February 2016.
India is the boxing power in the South Asian region and some of their stars are involved to attend in the Games, but Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, host Nepal and Bangladesh also have experienced hopes. The boxing tournament of the South Asian Games is scheduled in six female and ten men’s weight classes in Kathmandu.
The
first title of the Games was achieved by India’s Srinivasan Kalaivani
India has been attending with their second female
line-ups in the South Asian Games but all of their boxers are more experienced
than the region’s other countries. Their Srinivasan Kalaivani received the
right at the very first time to attend in such a big international event as the
South Asian Games. The Indian Open International Tournament bronze medallist
20-year-old youngster stopped Pakistan’s Rabia Batool on Day1 and she continued
her winning path against Bhutan’s Tandin Lhamo in the semi-finals. The Indian
youngster had a hard job against Nepal’s Lalita Maharjan in the final of the
women’s light flyweight (48kg) but she managed to win that difficult title
bout.
Nepal’s
female gold medal was achieved by Minu Gurung at the bantamweight (54kg)
Nepal’s female boxing life is in developing stage
which was proved by their National Champion Minu Gurung in the second final of
the South Asian Games. The Nepali bantamweight (54kg) boxer eliminated
Bangladesh’s Onita Islam in the semi-finals and faced for the title with
India’s Shiksha who competed well in the 2017 ASBC Asian Women’s Boxing
Championships. The local Nepali boxer tried to avoid the Indian attacks and
became smarter than her neighbouring rival which means Gurung claimed the first
gold medal for the host country in the South Asian Games.
The
Indians won the next three titles in Kathmandu
Following Minu Gurung’s success, the next three finals
were won by the Indian boxers in the South Asian Games in Kathmandu. Their
19-year-old female lightweight (60kg) boxer Parveen worked well to beat her
Nepali rival Sangita Sunar who attended in many international events in the
recent years. India’s first male success was delivered by Vinod Tanwar who had
a tough fight against Bhutan’s Thailand Open International Boxing Tournament bronze
medallist Tashi Wangdi at the light flyweight (49kg). AIBA Youth World Champion
Sachin Siwach Singh moved up to the bantamweight (56kg) just before the start
of the Games but he kept the best fighting range to beat Bangladesh’s Mohamed
Robin Mia.
Nepal’s Bhupendra Thapa reached his career highlight with an unexpected success at the light welterweight (64kg)
Nepal’s Bhupendra Thapa is not the most experienced boxer in their male squad but he exceeded all of the previous expectations in Kathmandu. The Nepali light welterweight (64kg) boxer had to meet with India’s Manish Kaushik who claimed bronze medal in the Yekaterinburg 2019 AIBA World Boxing Championships. Thapa boxed over his previous limit in their attractive final and delivered his career highlight, a gold medal at the South Asian Games which was the biggest sensation of the whole event.
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