Doha: Shiva Thapa thrashed Qatar's Hakan Erseker 3-0 to advance to the semi-finals of World Boxing Championships on Saturday and in the process assured himself of a medal in the mega event.
By assuring himself of at least a bronze, Shiva joined Vijender Singh (2009) and Vikas Krishan (2011) as the third Indian to be a medallist at the showpiece event.
Thapa has also moved closer to secure an Olympic berth. However, if he loses in the semi-finals on Sunday, then the 21-year-old will have to win a box-off to fetch a ticket to next year's extravaganza in Rio de Janeiro.
Meanwhile, Vikas Krishan Yadav exited the 2015 World Boxing Championship after a 3-0 defeat against Egypt's Hosam Abdin in the quarterfinals night.
23-year-old Vikas began the first round in confident fashion, holding a tight guard and managing to work out a few clear opportunities. He looked to have landed a fair share of punches but Abdin who was taller than the Indian outscored Vikas, using his better reach advantageously.
Having lost the first round 29-28, Vikas mounted a rousing fightback, again landing a few clear left-hooks but once again saw himself losing the round by an identical scoreline. In the third round, Abdin looked content to run down the clock, moving away from Vikas and using a number of holds. The judges awarded the Egyptian, ranked number 21 in the world, the third round by a score of 30-27.
Vikas said that he felt that he had done enough after the first and the second round. "I think I landed some convincing punches. It felt like a very close fight. I believed that I was in contention in the first two rounds. In the third, I had to go all out. It is a disappointing result but I have to take this in my stride and aim to correct a few mistakes I made. I am confident that I will be qualifying for the Rio Olympics as there are a couple of qualifiers coming up," he said.
